The Congress on Thursday pressed on its longstanding demand for a comprehensive debate in Parliament on India’s ties with China, because of national security concerns and the economic dependence on its northern neighbour. The party hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will allow such a discussion during the upcoming Monsoon session.
In a statement commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Galwan Valley clash, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, accused the Modi government of failing to respond to Chinese aggression and of conceding critical ground, both territorially and economically.
“Today is the fifth anniversary of PM Modi’s infamous clean chit to China, when he said ‘Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ only four days after 20 of our brave soldiers gave their lives for the nation in Galwan on 15 June, 2020,” Ramesh wrote on X.
Ramesh also shared a video clip of Modi making the controversial statement.
He claimed that the 2024 withdrawal agreement with China has compromised India’s ability to patrol its own territory in sensitive regions. “This sorry episode concluded with a withdrawal agreement on 21 October, 2024 under which Indian patrols require Chinese concurrence to reach their patrolling points in Depsang, Demchok, and Chumar. ‘Buffer zones’ in Galwan, Hot Spring, and Pangong Tso lie predominantly within the Indian claim line and seemingly permanently prevent our troops from accessing points to which they had unrestricted access before April 2020,” Ramesh stated.
“This is nowhere close to the status quo as demanded by our Armed Forces and represents a tremendous territorial setback to India,” he added.
The Congress leader also sounded the alarm over India’s deepening trade imbalance with China, pointing to a record trade deficit.
“Meanwhile, imports from China are booming—especially electronics, electric batteries, and solar cells. Important sectors like telecom, pharmaceuticals, and electronics are critically dependent on Chinese imports. The trade deficit with China has reached a record $99.2 billion in 2024–25,” Ramesh noted.
He quoted external affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s earlier remark: “Look, they are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, am I going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy?” Ramesh described the attitude as a “surrender to Chinese economic might.”
The Congress also accused China of playing a direct role in supporting Pakistan’s military during Operation Sindoor. “It is now increasingly clear that China played a pivotally embedded role in Pakistan’s military operations during Operation Sindoor. This support goes deeper than the supply of weapon systems such as the J-10C fighter and PL-15E air-to-air missile. It encompasses the domains of AI, multi-domain operations and stealth, with Pakistan likely to get up to 40 J-35 stealth fighters from China in the near future,” Ramesh said.
“The challenge of a single front encompassing our northern and western borders appears to be a reality today,” he warned.
Congress urged the government to acknowledge the seriousness of the challenges posed by China and engage all parties in formulating a strategic national response. “The Congress party has been calling for a detailed debate on China for the past five years. That has not happened. We hope that the Prime Minister will finally agree to such a discussion in the forthcoming session of Parliament,” Ramesh said.
“It is important to collectively work towards a national consensus on these vital national security and economic challenges posed by China's emergence as the world's dominant manufacturing power and as the world’s second-largest economy—that may well overtake that of the USA in a decade,” he added.
Earlier, the Congress also criticised Modi for failing to speak up on US President Donald Trump’s claims on India Pakistan ceasefire.
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday shared a video of Trump claiming credit for averting a war between India and Pakistan. In the clip, Trump says he spoke to Modi and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir, and credited both for defusing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
“Once again, Donald Trump has deflated the hype created by Modi ji’s PR machinery,” Khera said.
Congress also reiterated its demand on the ceasefire controversy and asked if the office of the Prime Minister will refute Trump’s claims.
“Is the word of our Prime Minister and our Ministry of External Affairs now so weak that even in a half-hour phone call with the U.S. President, India’s stance cannot be conveyed unambiguously? When Trump hyphenated India and Pakistan, the government stayed silent. It was the opposition that objected. Now, Trump has hyphenated Modi and Munir — and again, the government remains mute. But the opposition will never accept this insult to the office of India’s Prime Minister.”
The Opposition also demanded that Modi must come clean on Trump’s repeated, public claims on ceasefire.
“It is the Prime Minister who must refute these claims — and he must do so publicly.”