Rare Opposition Unity: Entire Opposition Walk Out on Refusal to Debate on Indo-China Clashes

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Even as the United Nations called for de-escalation at the India-China border in Tawang in Arunchal Pradesh and China while underlining that the situation at the border was “stable” blamed India for the December 9 clash between the two troops, the entire opposition on Wednesday walked out from both houses of Parliament in a rare demonstration of unity as the government refused to allow a discussion on the border conflict in Parliament.

The protests came after leaders of 17 opposition parties at their strategy meeting convened by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and decided to relentlessly continue their demand for a discussion. The Opposition demand for a discussion and clarifications after defence minister Rajnath Singh’s statement in the House was not accepted.

It was one of the rare display of Opposition unity in Parliament as the Aam Aadmi Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also joined strategy meet called by Kharge on how to compel the government to discuss the recent India-China border clashes in Parliament.

Bengal’s Trinamool Congress later participated in a walkout along with the 18 parties that were at the meeting, protesting the chairpersons’ refusal to allow a discussion on the Tawang clashes.

In the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi led the opposition walk out joined also by the TMC after the Speaker did not accept yet another request for a discussion on the “Indo-China border situation”. The Congress even argued that the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in Lok Sabha during the India-China war in 1962. Speaker Om Birla cited procedure — saying that a decision will be taken by the Business Advisory Committee of the parliament — and went ahead with the routine proceedings, at which the Opposition walked out.

Though the AAP and the TMC had different reasons not to join hands with the Congress, the two parties had attended a strategy meeting called by Kharge of the “like-minded opposition parties” at the start of the winter session of Parliament last week. The Left parties CPI and CPM, Bihar’s RJD and JDU, Uttar Pradesh’s SP and RLD, Maharashtra’s NCP and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction), and Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference, among others were the participants in both the meetings.

On Wednesday, several in-House efforts by Congress, NCP and other parties’ MPs yielded no results as the government has refused to engage beyond a brief statement by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The session began on December 7 and is scheduled till the 29th.

In the House, Kharge said the Opposition wanted a debate to get full information on the Chinese aggression and encroachment on Indian territory and that they stand by the Army and the country. “Our national security and territorial integrity is being impinged upon by brazen Chinese transgressions as the government remains a mute spectator. The valour of our armed forces in Galwan Valley, Ladakh is well known, but China has brazenly transgressed into our territory since April 2020.” But Deputy Chairman Harivansh said there was no notice before the Chair and a debate cannot be allowed on the issue.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor even invoked Jawaharlal Nehru’s parliamentary conduct during the 1962 war with China and attacked the Narendra Modi government over not allowing a discussion in parliament on recent clashes along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.

“We just want a discussion. Even during the war with China in 1962, Nehru ji (the then Prime Minister) got the parliament to function. He was ready to listen to everyone. I think more than 100 MPs spoke and decisions were then taken accordingly. These things should happen in a democracy,” he said, invoking two things the BJP uses often to attack the Congress — Jawaharlal Nehru’s allegedly soft policies and the war in which India suffered significantly.

“We should not forget that our country needs parliamentary accountability. Even on issues of national security, there are certain things that are confidential, but there are policy issues, too, which can be discussed,” said Tharoor, a former international diplomat.

He pointed out that “for five years, the Chinese have been nibbling at our LAC (Line of Actual Control), starting with Doklam in 2017, going on till what happened on December 9 in Tawang, and the incidents in Galwan, Depsang, Hot Springs and so on.”

He wasn’t convinced with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement in which he explained the clash and urged for unity across parties. “Merely a small statement, with no clarifications, taking no questions — I’m sorry to say, that’s not democracy,” Mr Tharoor said, pressing on the Opposition’s united stand. In both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the government has been cagey and the chairpersons have not allowed discussions on the issue, citing rules, conventions and “sensitivity of the matter.”

To the Opposition charge that China was “emboldened” by the BJP government’s “meek” and “inconsistent” foreign policy, the government has cited older incidents, particularly 1962. But the AAP’s Sanjay Singh has cited the 2020 Galwan valley incident in Ladakh. “After that, India had imposed several economic sanctions on China. But now India’s bilateral trade is bigger with China,” he said. “Exports from India to China have decreased by 37 per cent, while imports from China have increased by 31 per cent,” the Rajya Sabha MP claimed. He said there are “many questions” on how Chinese companies are getting contracts in India.

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Wednesday reacted to the recent face-off between the Indian and the China troops at Tawang and called for “de-escalation.” Spokesperson of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a press briefing said, “We also call to ensure that the tensions in that area (LAC, Tawang sector) do not grow.”

The Chinese foreign ministry while claiming that the Indian troops had transgressed into the Chinese territory resulting into the clashes between the two troops, said the situation was “stable” at the Indian border. “As far as we understand, the China-India border situation is stable overall. The two sides maintained unobstructed dialogue on the border issue through diplomatic and military channels”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.