Putting aside their political differences, the entire Opposition joined hands to back the Government on its approach towards China and the way Government is working to resolve the ongoing stand-off in the Doklam in Sikkim sector, after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, along with their top officials, gave a detailed briefing to the political parties on Friday.
Apart from these two senior Ministers, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar were among those who briefed the political parties. Sources said that the Foreign Secretary assured the Opposition leaders that the Government is taking appropriate steps to the protect country’s interests on the ongoing stand-off with China. He informed the Opposition leaders that the Chinese military has violated the agreed norms of the temporary boundary arrangement and that Doklam is a Bhutanese territory which India is protecting on it request.
Rajnath and Sushma also gave a detailed presentation to the leaders of the Opposition parties and apprised them of the situation along the Sino-Indian border and in Jammu & Kashmir. The Foreign Secretary also briefed leaders about the overall Kashmir situation, cross-border terrorism and said the Government “is taking measures to protect the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims”.
“All political parties greatly appreciated the detailed briefing, and expressed strong support for India’s approach and also for the need for national unity. Besides, the importance of India and
The parties also recognised the unique nature of very close and longstanding India-Bhutan relationship,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said after the meeting.
“The basic purpose was to apprise MPs from different parties of situation on terrorist attack on Amarnath Yatris on July 10 and situation in Sikkim sector,” DG PIB Frank Noronha said after the meeting.
Over 19 MPs from different parties were present and those who have not been called on Friday will be briefed on Saturday. Those, who attended the meeting on Friday, included Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Ram Vilas Paswan (lJP), Tariq Anwar (NCP), Sharad Yadav (JD-U), KC Tyagi (JD-U) and Derek O’Brien (TMC).
“The Government said they will tackle the situation through dialogues. They also gave a clarification on the security lapses,” Yechury said after the meeting. Congress leader Anand Sharma too made it clear that national security is a priority for his party and advised the Government to tackle situation diplomatically. Paswan said all parties are unanimous on supporting the Government on the issue of national security. However, TMC leader Derek O’Brien was critical. He said, “Why was Government unprepared and if this was their failureIJ We didn’t get answers we were looking for.”
Several Opposition leaders as well as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi have been criticising the way the Government has handled China and Kashmir issues. Rahul has also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on China. While Rahul accused Modi of pursuing policies that created space for terrorists in Kashmir, his party stated that previous Congress-led UPA regime had always kept the Opposition in loop on such critical issues.
China and India have been engaged in the stand-off in the Doklam area for the past three weeks after a Chinese Army’s construction party attempted to build a road at Doklam.
In Jammu & Kashmir, seven pilgrims were killed by militants in Anantnag district while returning from the Amarnath cave shrine on Monday. The Congress has alleged that the PM’s pursuit of short-term political gains from the BJP-PDP alliance in the State has cost the country dear and resulted in innocent lives being lost. AICC media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala took a jibe at the Government, saying it was “satisfying” to see that the NDA Government had “finally woken up” after three years to brief the Opposition on the issues concerning the nation. He added the Congress would fully “cooperate” with the Government on issues relating to national security.
“We shall also ask the Government to clarify all implications for our national security and the necessary steps being taken in protecting our national interests and also steps to be taken,” Surjewala said at AICC briefing.