BJP blames Congress for weak border infra; slams Sonia for 'enjoying Chinese hospitality'

BJP's National IT Head Amit Malviya on Friday came down heavily on the former Congress-led UPA government for 'enjoying Chinese hospitality' back in 2008. Malviya alleged that during the Congress tenure 'India’s trade imbalance with China started to widen' and as a result of which infrastructure build-up along the border didn’t grow at the pace it should have.

Malviya further brought on record the statement made by the former Defence Minister, A K Antony, who had admitted on the floor of the house that India is far behind in border infrastructure and China has advanced in the area of Infrastructure at the border.

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The BJP leader further disclosed that Sonia Gandhi was present at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a ‘personal’ guest of the Chinese government. During the Olympics, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not invited by the Chinese government, he said in his Tweet. 

"Congress must explain why Sonia, who held no public office then, accepted Chinese hospitality?" Malviya said.

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This comes at the time when former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi questioned the Centre government on sending Indian army personnel unarmed at the Galwan valley face-off that killed 20 Indian soldiers. Reacting to this the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday schooled Rahul Gandhi to get 'the facts straight' in a response to his question. Jaishankar clarified that it was not the case and schooled Rahul Gandhi on various treaties between both the countries to maintain 'peace and tranquillity'. The EAM said that the army cannot use firearms during faceoff as per 1996 and 2005 agreements. He also added that is why the Indian soldiers refrained.

India-China face-off

India, said on Tuesday that a violent clash broke out on of June 15 in Ladakh's Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to "unilaterally change" the status quo during de-escalation of the border dispute. Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lodged a strong protest of the Indian government with China over the violent stand-off at Galwan Valley during his telephonic conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday. The Indian minister recalled the Commander-level meeting at Moldo on June 6 and stated that China's attempt to erect a structure on the Indian side of Galwan is what became the source of dispute.

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