New Delhi [India]: After the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks on India-China relations, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticized the development, claiming that Modi had previously given a “clean chit” to China.
“This is not surprising that China has sent a formal reply and said that this is a dance between China’s dragon and India’s elephant. On June 19, 2020, when our Prime Minister was a non-biological PM, then he had given this statement where he gave a clean chit to China,” Ramesh told media.
Ramesh referred to a 2020 video clip of PM Modi where the Prime Minister reportedly stated that “no one has crossed our borders, or any of our posts are captured by someone else.”
Commenting on this, Ramesh remarked, “He said it two times, that no one has entered or posts have been captured. So when the clean chit was given, it makes sense that China will reply to that. Our power and influence gets weakened after our PM says things like this. Saying things like there was no incursion, so will we call it an excursion?”
Ramesh also reiterated the Opposition’s demand for a parliamentary discussion on the issue, emphasizing the need for PM Modi to address Parliament directly.
“We have raised many questions, and we have demanded only one thing, to have a debate on Parliament over this, take Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha into confidence. The PM should come and give a statement and take questions from others,” he added.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning had earlier praised PM Modi’s positive remarks on India-China relations during a podcast interview with Lex Fridman. Mao Ning highlighted that fostering “Dragon-Elephant Dance” cooperation is the best path forward for both nations.
According to Chinese state media, Mao Ning stated that China is willing to collaborate with India to fully implement the consensus reached by their leaders. She emphasized the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges, cooperation, and promote stable relations between the two countries.