New Delhi, 13 September (H.S.): The Congress on Sunday condemned the manner in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accusing the government of compromising the country’s territorial integrity. The party sought clarification from the Prime Minister by raising four questions concerning border security, statements made after the Galwan clash, strategic setbacks in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the record trade deficit of $112 billion.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) and Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh, in an official statement issued on Sunday, said that normalising relations between India and China was one thing, but what the government had demonstrated amounted to a “deliberate surrender”.

He questioned whether the “clean chit” given to China on June 19, 2020, had not weakened India’s position along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

He further asked why China had been allowed to gain territorial advantages in Ladakh and, now, in Arunachal Pradesh. He alleged that India had given up its traditional patrolling and grazing rights in large parts of eastern Ladakh.

At the same time, he said reports of Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh, the loss of access to patrolling points and the emergence of new standoffs continued to surface. He also alleged that China was renaming places and constructing the 60,000-megawatt Medog mega-dam on the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra River, posing a serious threat to the water security of the entire Northeast.

Ramesh said India’s trade deficit with China had reached a record $112.6 billion in the financial year 2025-26, causing significant damage to the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

He said India’s dependence on China for critical raw materials, manufacturing equipment and intermediate goods had reached a dangerous level. He alleged that under the present government, “Make in India” and “Import from China” had become two sides of the same coin, and claimed that the government had no concrete roadmap to address the situation.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar