National security jeopardised by Govt’s wasteful talks: Rahul Gandhi on China

PTI, Apr 19, 2021, 11:36 AM IST

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the government of jeopardising India’s national security, and termed its talks with China as “wasteful”.

“Chinese occupation of Gogra-Hot Springs and Depsang plains is a direct threat to India’s strategic interests including the DBO airstrip,” he said on Twitter

“National security massively jeopardised by GOI’s wasteful talks. Our nation deserves better,” he said.

His remarks come after reports that China has refused to pull back its troops from Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh.

The Congress on Sunday asked the government to explain why disengagement talks with China have “not yielded results” in other friction points in eastern Ladakh.

Citing media reports about China’s refusal to withdraw its troops, senior Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken asked the government to come clean on the issue.

“Why has the disengagement talks as promised by the Defence Minister on remaining friction points not yielded any results for India,” he said.

There has been no visible forward movement at the latest round of military talks between the two countries early this month.

The Indian Army had said in a statement that both sides held a detailed deliberation on disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points of Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh and agreed to jointly maintain stability on the ground, avoid any new incidents and resolve outstanding issues in an “expeditious manner”. P