Congress walks out of Lok Sabha after Rajnath Singh's statement on India-China stand-off

NEW DELHI: Congress on Tuesday walked out of Lok Sabha after being denied an opportunity to speak following Union defence minister Rajnath Singh’s statement on development on the borders in Ladakh.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his deputy Gaurav Gogoi pressed for an opportunity to speak after Singh proposed that the House should pass a resolution that it stands firmly with the Indian soldiers deployed to protect Indian territory. Speaker Om Birla, however, told Congress there is no provision for discussion after the minister’s statement.
Congress then staged a walkout and protested in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament House complex. “The Army belongs to all of us, we are proud of the Indian army, but, no doubt there was an intention behind silencing the Congress Party, because the PM does not want to answer certain tough questions,” he said.
On Twitter, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the defence minister’s response had made it amply clear that PM Modi had “misled” the country on the issue of “Chinese encroachment”. “It is clear from the defence minister’s statement that Modi ji misled the country on the issue of Chinese encroachment. Our country always was, is and will remain with the Indian armed forces. But Modi ji, when will you stand against China? When will you take our land back from China? Don’t be scared of taking China’s name,” Rahul said in a tweet in Hindi.
Congress also pointed to PM Modi’s absence from the House when the defence minister made the statement on the Ladakh situation, especially since he had, on opening day of Parliament, enlisted support for Indian soldiers. “We all remember, what he said; that “no Chinese army has entered the Indian Territory”. That is the position of the Chinese Government too and it is this statement that has undermined India’s position and strengthened the Chinese,” Gogoi said.
On Tuesday morning, the government had formally declined to entertain the opposition’s demand for discussion on the standoff between Indian and Chinese forces on the LAC in Ladakh. Sources said parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, had turned down the request on grounds that the issue is sensitive and since it relates to national security, it cannot be discussed on a public platform.
Chowdhury, however, called this a facetious argument and cited the 1962 war against China, when former PM Jawaharlal Nehru called a special session of Parliament following a demand for discussion by then opposition leader and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “A special session was convened and the China issue was discussed for two days. That is the tradition we have known and want to see today,” Chowdhury said.