Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Opposition was forced to ask questions on sensitive international disputes on social media because the government refused to brief the political parties on issues of national interest and had failed to take them into confidence.

Mr. Ramesh compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who, when demanded by the Opposition, convened a Parliament session to discuss the Indo-China war of 1962.

“China attacked India in two phases starting Oct 20, 1962. Vajpayee and others wrote to Nehru demanding Parliament be convened. Nehru readily accepted and listened to blistering criticism of his policies. Now we have Maunendra Modi. Not even a briefing to former PMs/pol party leaders!,” he tweeted.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had chided former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday for raising questions on international affairs via social media. In response to Mr. Prasad’s prescription, Mr. Ramesh said, “Questions are being asked on social media because the government has not briefed former PMs, former Defence Ministers, leaders of political parties. These could be in-camera briefings. The reality is that the Chinese are sitting on 50-60 sq kms of strategic Indian territory in Ladakh and at least senior political leaders should be taken into confidence,” he told The Hindu.

Virtual Parliament

He said it was a shame that a country that called itself an IT superpower had failed to convene a session of virtual Parliament when Parliaments of over 30 countries had met online.

“There is no excuse for not having at least virtual sessions of standing committees. In fact, the committees can easily have physical meets too, because although each committee has 31 members or thereabouts less than 50 per cent attend anyway,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh heads the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change.