Congress's 4 questions to PM Modi after meeting with China's Xi

The Congress on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi four questions on his approach to India-China relations and accused him of showing "calibrated capitulation" towards Beijing.The party's remarks came a day after PM Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping that peace and tranquillity along the border remain an "essential" basis for the development of ties, while the two sides welcomed what they described as steady progress in the relationship.Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the nation was still seeking answers from the Prime Minister on issues ranging from his June 19, 2020 remarks on China, to the situation in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, China's support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, and India's widening trade deficit with China.There was no immediate response from the government or the BJP to the Congress' claims.In a statement posted on X, Ramesh said, "Now that his bilateral summit with President Xi Jinping is over, here are four questions for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to which the nation continues to seek answers.

Did not your infamous clean chit to China on June 19, 2020 weaken India?" He recalled that on the night of June 15-16, 2020, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, the first such loss of life on the border in 45 years.Ramesh said that four days later, at an all-party meeting, PM Modi had said, "Na koi humari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai." (Neither has anyone entered our territory, nor is anyone inside it) He said the statement had never been retracted and asked, "Has this not greatly weakened our subsequent negotiating position?"

He also asked why the Prime Minister had "allowed China's territorial advances in Ladakh and now Arunachal Pradesh". Ramesh alleged that traditional patrolling and grazing rights across large stretches of eastern Ladakh had been quietly but definitely "surrendered". He also claimed there were reports of Chinese encroachment in Arunachal Pradesh, including loss of India's access to patrolling points and fresh stand-offs.Referring to China's position on Arunachal Pradesh, Ramesh said, "China's posture on Arunachal Pradesh has only hardened: renaming towns, reasserting claims to what it calls 'South Tibet', and pushing ahead with its 60,000-MW Medog mega-dam on the Brahmaputra's Great Bend, a project that gives it a stranglehold over the water security of our entire northeast."

On another issue, Ramesh asked why Modi had allowed what he called a softening of India's position on China's role in support of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.He said, "On July 4, 2025, Lt. General Rahul Singh, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff, had publicly spoken of the military establishment's assessment of the deep and pivotal role of China in assisting Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. But all of a sudden, on August 25, 2026, the former Chief of Defence Staff Gen.

Anil Chauhan took a completely different position in a lecture at the VIF with which the National Security Adviser has himself been closely associated. Was this part of a strategy to change the atmospherics leading up to yesterday's meeting?" Ramesh's fourth question was on trade. He said India's trade deficit with China had reached a record USD 112.6 billion in 2025-26 and had hurt large sections of Indian industry, especially MSMEs."

The dependence on China for critical raw materials, manufacturing components and intermediates has reached dangerous levels. 'Make in India' and 'Import from China' have become two sides of the same coin. Where is the roadmap for changing this unacceptable situation?" he asked.He ended his statement by saying, "Prime Minister, normalisation of India's relations with China is one thing, but what has been in evidence on your part is calibrated capitulation."

A day earlier, PM Modi and Xi held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the two leaders said both countries should take a strategic and long-term view of ties and ensure that differences do not become disputes.The MEA also said the two leaders underlined the need to address concerns on structural trade imbalance, supply chains, and meaningful and predictable market access, and expressed commitment to a "fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable" resolution of the boundary question.Xi's visit came after a series of high-level exchanges, including the Special Representative dialogue in Beijing between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, even as concerns remain over Chinese military posturing along the Arunachal Pradesh sector.PM Modi and Xi had also held wide-ranging talks on August 31 last year on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin.In recent months, India and China have taken several steps to rebuild ties after relations came under severe strain following the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

After more than four years of frosty ties over the eastern Ladakh military stand-off, the process of repairing relations gathered pace after a PM Modi-Xi meeting in Kazan in October 2024, held after the face-off ended.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 13, 2026 14:00 IST