The Opposition will demand discussions on both the border stand-off with China and the deteriorating situation in Kashmir in the monsoon session of Parliament, though its floor leaders were called for an official briefing on Friday.
Opposition leaders said their attendance at the meeting should not be interpreted as acquiescence in what the government has done so far on these two critical issues concerning national security: more questions need to be answered, and it must be done in Parliament, the country’s “highest forum for discussion”.
Multiple issues
While the Opposition intends to flag several other subjects for discussion — including farmers’ distress, the economic fallout of demonetisation, and the implementation of GST — China and Kashmir will continue to be on the table.
Congress Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, who attended Friday’s meeting, told The Hindu that while the Opposition would stand with the government on both these issues as they concern national security, there was concern over how the situation on the border with China had escalated.
‘Intensify efforts’
“The government must intensify diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation on the border, and avoid conflict. The government is saying that the National Security Adviser will be going to Beijing on July 27 and that will act as a line of communication, but it is not enough.
Mr. Sharma expressed surprise that despite India-China agreements in 2003 and 2005, followed by the trilateral China-India-Bhutan agreement in 2012 that nothing would be done unilaterally on the border, “for the first time, China has come in and destroyed our bunkers”. “What is the trigger for all this,” he asked.
On Amarnath attack
Mr. Sharma also said that Opposition leaders were yet to receive a satisfactory explanation on why the Amarnath yatris killed in a terror attack recently were allowed to travel after 7 p.m., when security cover is withdrawn.
The Congress, he said, sees the Kashmir killings as linked to the growing atmosphere of intolerance across the country, in which mob lynchings are becoming commonplace.
The Congress core group will meet on Monday. This will be followed on Tuesday by a meeting of the 18 Opposition parties that are supporting Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the post of Vice-President. These parties will also gather on Sunday evening to meet Mr. Gandhi and the Opposition’s presidential candidate Meira Kumar.
D. Raja of the CPI said, “We will also seek discussion on farmers’ distress and the countrywide agitation by them, mob lynching and why it is continuing even after PM Modi’s appeal, the economic fallout of demonetisation and GST, disinvestment leading to job losses and the threats to freedom of expression.”
Flagging the subjects of farmers’ distress and of the misuse of governors by the Modi government, he said his party also wants a discussion on mob lynching, and the maintenance of what he called a “register of gaubhakts” who were on the rampage across the country, demanding bribes from or attacking cow traders.