‘No comparison between 1962 and 2020’: Congress’ DDLJ jibe at EAM Jaishankar

While addressing his book launch in Pune in Maharashtra on Saturday, EAM Jaishankar claimed the land that opposition leaders say has been occupied by China “was occupied in 1962,” in a reference to the war when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India

The Congress on Monday slammed the central government on the alleged Chinese incursions in the Ladakh sector since May 2020, at a time when the armies of two sides got into a skirmish, and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s strategy to deal with the Chinese could be summed up as “DDLJ– Deny, Distract, Lie, Justify.”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh (HT Photo)

Affirming that there is no ‘there was no comparison’ between 1962 and 2020, Congress senior leader and MP Jairam Ramesh said that external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s recent remarks attacking the Congress party are simply the latest attempt to divert attention from the centre’s failed China policy.

He further alleged that since 2020, India has lost thousands of square kilometres to China.

“There is no comparison between 1962 when India went to war with China to defend its territory and 2020 after which India has acquiesced to Chinese aggression with denials followed by disengagements in which India has lost access to thousands of square kilometres of territory,” the Congress leader said.

While addressing his book launch in Pune in Maharashtra on Saturday, EAM Jaishankar claimed the land that opposition leaders say has been occupied by China “was occupied in 1962,” in a reference to the war when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India.

Ramesh further questioned Jaishankar’s potshot at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for meeting the Chinese ambassador in 2017 during the India-China standoff in Bhutan.

“Ironic to say the least coming from someone who, as ambassador to the US during the Obama [former President of the US] administration, presumably met with leading Republicans. Are opposition leaders not entitled to meet diplomats from countries that are important from a trade, investment and security standpoint?” asked Ramesh.

Jaishankar had questioned Gandhi’s 2017 meeting with the Chinese envoy when the two countries were in a standoff and reportedly said, “In 2017, when India and China were locked in a standoff on the border area abutting Bhutan, the Congress said Rahul Gandhi had met the ambassadors of the two neighbouring countries... if I would need to know something (on China), I won’t go to the Chinese ambassador to get input, but to my military leadership.”

Ramesh further said that the government should turn their attention from ‘opposition blaming’ to ‘addressing real issues’.

“No amount of obfuscation can hide the fact that the Modi government has sought to cover up India’s biggest territorial setback in decades that followed PM Modi’s naive wooing of President Xi,” Ramesh said, adding, “...we suggest that EAM Jaishankar and the government spend more time trying to get Chinese troops out of Depsang and Demchok and less time on blaming the opposition for their own incompetence.”

Ramesh’s statement comes days after Jaishankar said some people deliberately spread wrong news about the China issue.

Rahul Gandhi has been raising the issue of Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control, alleging that Indian land has been occupied.