Congress MPs on Monday said reports about Chinese construction activity on the Arunachal Pradesh border were very serious and asked the government to spell out its response.
“Mr Tapir Gao MP, belonging to BJP, has alleged that deep into Arunachal Pradesh, in a ‘disputed area’ within Indian territory, the Chinese have built a 100-house village, a bazaar and a two-lane road in the last year,” former finance minister P. Chidamabaram tweeted.
“If this is true, it is clear that the Chinese have altered the status quo by converting a disputed area into a permanent settlement of Chinese settlements. What government to say about these startling facts? Will the government give another clean chit to China? Or will the government give a convoluted explanation blaming previous governments?” he asked.
“This is very very serious. Not troops but a whole village ! For God sake. @PMOIndia or @rajnathsingh Ji must tell the nation as to whether this is true or false?” Congress MP Manish Tewari tweeted and tagged a news report claiming to show satellite images of construction on the Arunachal Pradesh border.
Also read: Aware of Chinese construction along the LAC, says MEA
His party and Lok Sabha colleague, Shashi Tharoor, on Twitter, took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Reports say China has built a village on the border, in Arunachal (as it has in Bhutan): Would our PM be invited to do yet another Zoom inauguration for this new border infrastructure project?” Mr. Tharoor asked on Twitter.
Since June 2020, when Chinese and Indian troops were engaged in a violent face-off after China had reportedly transgressed the Line of Actual Control, the Congress has been targeting the Narendra Modi government for not “acknowledging” the border incursions.
