New Delhi April 28:
BJP
president Rajnath Singh on Sunday demanded cancellation of external
affairs minister Salman Khurshid's May 9 visit to China till it
withdraws its army personnel forces from Depsang Valley in Ladakh where
they intruded a fortnight back.
"Despite
all this, our foreign minister is going to China on a visit. I am sorry
but I would humbly request the Prime Minister to stop the foreign
minister. Till the time China leaves Ladakh and goes back, there should
not be any visit to Beijing," Singh said addressing the Matri Shree
awards function in New Delhi. He also demanded that the area should be
handed over to the Army instead of ITBP, which is currently posted
there.
"The
area where China has infiltrated was under the army till 2010. The
government pulled out the army from there and handed it over to ITBP,
which fall under the home ministry." "I request that without any delay,
the area under ITBP be handed back to the army because no other force
can work there. It is a very sensitive matter and our country is facing
grave danger from outside," Singh said. The government so far has
decided to go ahead with Khurshid's visit notwithstanding the Chinese
intrusion.
Khurshid's
trip comes ahead of the visit by newly elected Chinese premier Li
Keqiang to India later next month. A lot of significance is being
attached to Li's visit, his first abroad after becoming Prime Minister
last month. The BJP chief said the way China was surrounding India from
all corners was "not a recent thing" and that he had attracted the
government's attention to this five years ago.
"I
was the first politician to raise the issue of China building a dam on
Brahmaputra five-six years ago and trying to divert its water. I raised
this issue in Parliament. The Prime Minister said it is a serious matter
and I would speak to you personally. I suggested composition of a joint
committee to probe the matter but it wasn't done," Singh rued.
On
the attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore jail, the BJP chief said had
India been strong in protesting against earlier similar incidents in
Pakistan, no one could have dared to attack him. Singh said, "Sarabjit
was attacked in a Pakistani jail and it is condemnable. It is the
responsibility of the country concerned to provide security to its
prisoners but the way Sarabjit was attacked is unfortunate and I condemn
it.
"But
it is not the first instance. Before this, Chamel Singh and somebody
called Lakshman, who was arrested, were attacked inside jail and died
later but the government of Pakistan did nothing," Singh said. The BJP
chief said that when a small country like Pakistan violates the border
and kills Indian jawans, "we should strongly protest but we are never
able to do that."
Maintaining
that such instances jolt the country's conscience, Singh said, "If we
had been strong in protesting against earlier incidents, I can say with
confidence that no one would have dared to attack an Indian prisoner
lodged in a Pakistani jail because Pakistan government would have been
scared and wary that if any harm comes on an Indian, India would take
revenge. "But they know that even if they behead our soldier, India
would say nothing."
Singh
said there is a crisis of credibility that the political class is
facing right now because there is a huge difference in words and deeds.
"Our country is in a whirlpool of trouble. India's pride is being hurt
by corruption and it has to be dealt with. There is danger
outside...besides the internal trouble," he said. Party spokesperson
Prakash Javadekar said, "The entire foreign policy of the government is
in a coma.
Be
it the attack on Sarabjit in a Pakistan jail, the 19km deep incursion
in Ladakh by China or the beheading of Indian jawans, India's position
under this government has been very weak. "This is a spineless
government. It cannot assert our real position vis-a-vis our neighbour.
We cannot even impress upon our neighbours to do justice. The attitude
that the government has adopted in the Sarabjit is very condemnable," he
told reporters in New Delhi.
