The Congress on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Centre following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accusing the government of “cowardly kowtowing” and capitulating before the “so-called dragon.”
The Opposition party also described as “anti-national” Modi’s silence on what it termed the Pakistan-China “jugalbandi” during Operation Sindoor.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister had weakened India’s position.
“For a long time, India has been accusing China of its ‘double standards’ and ‘double-speak’ on terrorism,” he wrote on X.
“Now, Prime Minister Modi tells President Xi that India and China are both victims of terrorism. If this is not the so-called elephant capitulating before the so-called dragon, then what is it?” Ramesh added.
He further said, “Even more anti-national is the fact that Prime Minister Modi remained completely silent in his conversation with President Xi about China’s jugalbandi with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor — something revealed by top Indian Army officials themselves.”
“The self-proclaimed 56-inch chested leader now stands thoroughly exposed. He betrayed the national interest with his clean chit to China on June 19, 2020. Now, August 31, 2025, will also go down as a day of infamy for his cowardly kowtowing in Tianjin,” Ramesh said.
The strong criticism came a day after India and China vowed to expand trade and investment ties to help stabilise global commerce.
In their meeting, Modi and Xi also agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation, address terrorism-related challenges, and work towards a “fair” resolution of the border issue.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the leaders reaffirmed that India and China are development partners, not rivals, and stressed that their differences should not be allowed to turn into disputes.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Modi raised the issue of cross-border terrorism and called for mutual support to combat the menace, noting that both India and China have been affected by it.