Congress invokes Nehru to target Centre on Galwan Valley

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) While tension between India and China continues to be high, the bickering between the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress is also no less.

Taking recourse to history, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said Nehru was unrelenting on China drawing its own LAC and claimed that China during his time accepted that the Galwan Valley belongs to India.

“The term, Line of Actual Control, or LAC, was coined by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1956 and then repeated in 1959, and during and following the 1962 war. After China’s invasion of India, Zhou Enlai sent Nehru a letter asking India to accept the 1959 Chinese claim line and saying China was willing to withdraw 20 kms from this claim line,” said the Congress on Saturday.

It went on to claim, “In response, Nehru’s letter of November 4 said Zhou’s proposal was nothing short of a victor’s diktat.”

The Congress on Saturday quoted Nehru where he wrote, “The demand for India to accept the Chinese 1959 line is a demand to which India will never submit whatever the consequences and, however, long and hard the struggle may be.”

Taking a sharp jibe at the Centre, the Congress alleged that the Chinese who in the 1959 line clearly depicted the entire Galwan Valley in India has now formally laid claim for the first time ever to the “entire Galwan Valley.”

This attack comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while at Leh, said in a clear warning to China without naming it, “Age of expansionism is over.”

Addressing India’s armed forces, he said, “Age of expansionism is over, this is the age of development. History has been witness that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to go back.”

This assertion by the Indian Prime Minister in the Ladakh region was extremely significant given the ongoing tension at the border with China in eastern Ladakh, barely 18 days after a violent standoff.

–IANS

abn/miz/dpb/bg