China Stopped Indian Troops From Patrolling Certain Arunachal Border Areas: Rahul

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that China has stopped Indian troops from patrolling in certain areas along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh and that the government was making efforts to "hide it".

There was no immediate reaction from the government on Gandhi's allegations.

There has been no official word on any such development in Arunachal Pradesh. However, on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India considers matters relating to border areas with China as "most serious" and asserted that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control is of "utmost importance", as the state of the frontier will govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties.

The MEA's remarks came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri region.

China on Wednesday said the situation along the Sino-India border is "generally stable at the moment" while declining to comment on reports of stepped-up Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border.

Addressing the national convention of the 'Rachnatmak Congress' here, Gandhi said, "These days I get information from inside Prime Minister Modi's office, a full-on revolt is going on. What has happened is that in our patrolling area in Arunachal Pradesh, China has stopped us from patrolling, stating that....'it is your land but you cannot patrol here'."

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah were not doing anything about it.

"What are they doing? The operation is ongoing and they are calling up media editors that 'don't publish this in your newspapers, hide it'. Without thinking, they are harming the country," the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

"I have seen it with my own eyes, the PM came on Zoom call after Galwan and said not even an inch of our land was taken by China. After that, the Army said that they (Chinese) have taken India's land. Think about it, what message had gone to China and then China's negotiators told our negotiators that -- 'what nonsense are you saying, your PM said that your land was not taken away'.

"The Army is saying that land has been taken but Chinese negotiator says that your PM is saying it is not so. So they have destroyed the country internally, foreign policy has been destroyed and they have done this to finance their political structure and take money from Mr Adani," he alleged.

In a statement, the Congress' Foreign Affairs department, headed by former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, said, "The Indian National Congress is deeply alarmed and gravely concerned by reports that China has denied India access to historically Indian patrolling points across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Taksing, Arunachal Pradesh."

"This is yet another escalation in Chinese attempts at encroachment of Indian territory an issue originally flagged by indigenous communities (who had written to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and Government of India in June this year), which has been compounded by China building 628 Xiaokang or 'well-off villages' at India's borders (as revealed by Deputy Chief of the Army Staff Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai in March this year)," Khurshid said in the statement.

As Gandhi has rightly said, the Government of India must unequivocally defend India's territorial integrity and stridently assert our strategic autonomy, the Congress said.

"Failure to do so will embolden China to adopt an increasingly aggressive posture across Asia. If the Bharatiya Janta Party government once again fails to stand up to China (after compromising India's position in Ladakh, in the Indian Ocean Region, in West Asia, etc), it will carry serious long-term strategic consequences in Asia, and inflict lasting damage on India's credibility in the world," the party said.

The Congress demands that Prime Minister Modi immediately address the nation about these concerning developments and the government immediately constitute and dispatch a multi-party delegation to assess the situation on ground, Khurshid said.

"Finally, Prime Minister Modi must strongly raise this issue directly with President Xi Jinping, who is due to visit India next month. The prime minister must prioritise India's national security over the pursuit of personal political capital and performative diplomacy," he said.