New Delhi
Further, the Congress dismissed a defence ministry’s statement issued after Rahul Gandhi accused the government of compromising “territorial integrity” as part of “Operation cover-up” but rather uncovering the conspiratorial mask of a weak-kneed leadership. Party’s chief spokesman and general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala identified the “gaping holes” in the ministry’s statement and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s submission in Parliament a day earlier:
n Silence on withdrawal of the Indian Armed Forces from dominant position in Kailash ranges on the southern bank of Pangong Tso lake, where the Chinese are at a disadvantage;
n India has always maintained control on Finger 4, with its “forward base” at Finger 4;
n Depsang Plains missing in the minister’s statement and the ministry described it as an “outstanding problem” which is India’s territory and no time frame for the Chinese to vacate India’s territory 18 km inside the LAC up to Y-junction in Depsang Plains;
n No word in minister’s statement on “Gogra and Hot Springs”, described by the ministry as “outstanding problems”, while in reality they are in India’s territory.
n Surjewala questioned why the PM, the defence minister and his ministry are mum “on the unpardonable sin committed by a sitting Minister, Gen (retd) VK Singh by unjustifiably painting India as the aggressor giving China a false handle to blame us?
“Why has the Prime Minister not sacked Gen VK Singh? Is it because the statement made by Singh is at the behest of the Government and if so, for what reason,” the Congress leader asked.
