Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 13: The Congress has termed the outcome of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi as “Calibrated Capitulation” citing the past evidences to counter the government’s claims of “steady progress” in the relationship between the two countries.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh referred to the June 2020 conflict in Galwan, China’s alleged territorial advances in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, its support for Pakistan, and India’s growing trade deficit with China, saying the evidence pointed to a “calibrated capitulation.”
The statement came a day after Mr Modi and Mr Xi met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit and agreed that differences between the two countries “should not become disputes,” while committing themselves to a “fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question.”
Mr Ramesh posed four questions to the Prime Minister following his bilateral meeting with Mr Xi. Referring to the June 2020 Galwan clash, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, the Congress questioned Mr Modi’s June 19, 2020 remarks at an all-party meeting, where the Prime Minister had said, “Na hamari seema main ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai (No one has intruded into our territory). Mr Ramesh argued that this statement, which was never retracted by the government, weakened India’s subsequent negotiating position with China.
The Congress also alleged that India had ceded traditional patrolling and grazing rights in parts of eastern Ladakh and expressed concern over reports of Chinese encroachment in Arunachal Pradesh. It pointed to China’s continued claim over Arunachal Pradesh, the renaming of locations in the State, and the construction of the proposed Medog mega-dam project on the Brahmaputra, which the party said had implications for India’s water security in the Northeast.
The party further questioned what it described as a softening of India’s position on China’s role in supporting Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. Mr Ramesh referred to remarks made by Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul Singh in July 2025 regarding China’s role in assisting Pakistan, and contrasted them with comments made by former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan in August 2026. The Congress asked whether the change in tone was linked to efforts to improve the atmosphere ahead of the Modi-Xi meeting.
On the economic front, the Congress highlighted India’s trade deficit with China, which it said had reached a record level of $112.6 billion in 2025-26. The party argued that growing dependence on Chinese imports, particularly for critical raw materials and manufacturing components, had hurt domestic industry, especially micro, small and medium enterprises.
“Make in India and import from China have become two sides of the same coin,” the statement said, while demanding a roadmap to address the imbalance. “Prime Minister, normalisation of India’s relations with China is one thing, but what has been in evidence on your part is calibrated capitulation,” Mr Ramesh said.
Meanwhile, more than 50 members of the Tibetan Youth Congress were detained by the Delhi police while protesting against the Chinese president participating in the BRICS Summit. The detention came amidst heightened security in the national capital for the BRICS Summit attended by top leaders of the member countries.
The Tibetan community in exile in India had voiced their opposition to Xi’s presence on Friday also and had held demonstration near the Bharat Mandapam where the BRICS Summit was scheduled to take place. Around 7:30 a.m., three members of the Students for Free Tibet (SFT) climbed poles inside an underpass near Bharat Mandapam. They waved the Tibetan flag and flags with slogans such as “Xi Jinping=Genocide” and “Tibet is facing ecocide: Free Tibet.” Three students and two others including a media person were arrested by the police and were taken to Tihar jail for preventive detention till Monday for the completion of the summit.
Later, around 10 a.m., a peaceful protest was also conducted at Majnu Ka Tila in north Delhi condemning the Chinese President’s visit to India. The protest attracted scores of Tibetans from Delhi and States such as Karnataka, Odisha, and Himachal Pradesh.
“We are not against BRICS Summit and we congratulate India for hosting it. However, we want to say that Xi Jinping is not welcome here. For decades, China has outrageously violated the human rights of Tibetan people through its state-sanctioned violence and environmental tragedies caused by uncontrolled engineering on the Tibetan plateau. With its Ethnic Unity and Progress law, China has tried to legitimise the suppression of Tibetan language, culture and religion,” said Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, former deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.