No intrusion in our border, PM assures all-party meeting

New Delhi, June 19: Clearing all doubts regarding the recent Chinese overtures in Ladakh’s Galvan Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphatically assured the nation through the all-party meeting that no part of Indian territory was under the Chinese occupation.

All parties expressed their solidarity and support to the Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi except Congress President Sonia Gandhi who raised a number of questions about Chinese intrusion. The Congress found itself isolated at the all-party meeting.

The staunch adversaries of the Prime Minister – Sharad Pawar and Mamta Banerjee extended their support to the Prime Minister in this hour of crisis but Sonia Gandhi failed to rise to the occasion and shamed her party.

The Prime Minister confidently clarified that no enemy soldier had ever entered into the Indian territory and no Indian post was under their occupation. He said those enemy soldiers who tried to enter our territory were taught a befitting lesson to them before laying their lives at the altar of the motherland. We are proud of their sacrifice and assure the nation and their families that their sacrifice will not go in vain, Modi said.

He said that the army, navy, and air force are given full freedom to deal with any eventuality in the border area. The government has deployed the forces all along the 3488 km Indo-China border from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh and asked them to remain ever alert and vigilant to thwart any misadventure by the enemy forces.

Modi said that the government in the last five years has taken on a priority basis the development of infrastructure and patrolling along the border. As a result of these improvements in infrastructure, it has become possible to keep deep vigil along the border and act accordingly. Increased patrolling and focus on infrastructure have enabled the government and the armed forces to get the advance information and inputs on border area developments.

The Prime Minister welcomed the leaders and thanked them for their valuable suggestions in dealing with the situation along the border. The all-party meeting was convened by the Prime Minister to discuss the tense situation on the Indo-China border. The meeting was attended by presidents of all political parties through video-conferencing in view of the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The meeting was held against the background of the violent standoff on the Indo-China border. India had lost 20 of its army personnel including a commanding officer of 16 Bihar, on Monday night in the Galvan Valley of Ladakh fighting with the Chinese forces.

Prime Minister Modi said that the entire country was hurt by what happened on the border. The anger against China is boiling inside the country, he said adding that the sacrifice of our soldiers will ever remain alive in the hearts of our people.

The Prime Minister further said that we have developed the capability to prevent anyone from eyeing our territory. Our forces are well equipped and well prepared to move in every sector and they are given full freedom to deal with the situation on the border. At the same time diplomatic steps are taken to convey our stand to China, he added.

Protecting our sovereignty is supreme for us, the Prime Minister said adding that we have given priority to developing infrastructure, providing fighter planes, missile defence systems, etc. to the army, increase patrolling capacity, and vigilance to get timely information and deal with any situation well in time.

Our jawans are monitoring the situation and responding to any eventuality along the border areas to stop the enemy advances, he said. The interest of the nation, people are our topmost priority, and India has never accepted any outside pressure in its internal matters, he added.

Congress stands isolated: However, Congress was the only party that did not support the Prime Minister in this hour of crisis. Congress President Sonia Gandhi raised the issue of intelligence failure and accused the government of hiding information. She wanted to know why the government did not hold talks with the Chinese forces between June 5 and 7.

All other leaders including Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Mayawati, Uddhav Thackeray, and others unequivocally supported the government and assured all cooperation to the Prime Minister except Sonia Gandhi.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi too raised doubts about the government indirectly blaming the Prime Minister for the death of our soldiers.

It may be mentioned that it was during the Congress rule under Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru that China had intruded into Indian territory in Ladakh and Aksai Chin and illegally occupied those areas.