NEW DELHI, Oct 14: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call an all-party meeting to discuss India’s relationship with China a day after Beijing protested the Prime Minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The BJP demands that the Prime Minister must call an all-party meeting at the earliest to have a wider consultations and consensus on the entire design of China, nature of our relationship with the neighbouring country and the kind of response required to be given.”
China on Tuesday expressed “strong dissatisfaction” over Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. “China is strongly dissatisfied with the visit to the disputed region by the Indian leader disregarding China’s serious concerns,” Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu as saying.
The BJP leader further said the language of protest used is not only fit to be condemned strongly, but is part of a pattern showing rank belligerence against India and its strategic interest. However, the BJP is dismayed to notice the almost apologetic tone and tenor of the response of the External Affairs Minister of India; which raises serious doubt in the minds of the people of the country about the Government’s will and capability to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country, he said. For the last nearly two years, China is increasingly demonstrating its hostility against India and the claim on Arunachal Pradesh is being repeated not only by their Ambassador, but also by their political leadership at the highest level including on multilateral forums, he added.
“The aggressive posture of China is being met with not only timid response, but there is a deliberate attempt to downplay it. China is increasing its pressure on the Himalayas through incursions all across, but the Government of India has put a curb on all information relating to it. Some stray official comments suggest that there is no significant increase in comparison to last year in incursions, but the exact number of increase is not being disclosed. We need to remember that in 2007 the number of incursion was 140 which rose to 270 in the year 2008. Whether the rise is significant or not would be known only when the number is released officially. The BJPs demand that the number of incursions must be disclosed,” Prasad said.
He said the BJP favours a “good relationship with China, but not at the cost of the territorial integrity” of the country. The BJP appealed for wider consultation and national consensus on a very strong response against what he called the aggressive designs of China. THE SENTINEL
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