Rahul Gandhi attacks Sushma Swaraj over Doklam, says she ‘buckled in front of China’

Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday told Lok Sabha that the government has “resolved the Doklam issue with diplomatic maturity without losing any ground”.

india Updated: Aug 02, 2018 14:24 IST
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at Parliament House in New Delhi.(Sushil Kumar/HT File Photo)

Day after foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said in Lok Sabha that the Doklam standoff had been “resolved with diplomatic maturity without losing any ground”, Rahul Gandhi attacked her with an acerbic tweet, along with a report that quotes top US official saying that China has “quietly resumed” its activities in the Doklam area and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it. The claim was, however, denied by the government.

“Amazing how a lady like Sushma ji has buckled and prostrated herself in front of Chinese power. Absolute subservience to the leader means our brave jawan has been betrayed on the border.”

Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday told Lok Sabha that the government has “resolved the Doklam issue with diplomatic maturity without losing any ground. There is no change in the status quo (on the ground). There is not an iota of change. The face off at sight has been resolved on August 28, 2017.”

Last month, a US Congresswoman Ann Wagner during a Congressional hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee for Asia and the Pacific made the claim that China has “quietly resumed” its activities in the Doklam area.

“Although both countries backed down, China has quietly resumed its activities in Doklam and neither Bhutan nor India has sought to dissuade it. China’s activities in the Himalayas remind me of its south China Sea policies. How should our failure to respond to the militarisation of the South China Sea inform the international response to these Himalayan border disputes?” Wagner asked.

Wager did not elaborate on her claim of China resuming its activities.

Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a 73-day stand-off last year at the Doklam near Bhutan over Beijing’s construction of a road in the area. The standoff ended after both sides agreed to disengage, and there have been no confirmed or official reports of China resuming any activities since then.

First Published: Aug 02, 2018 13:43 IST