China is time and again undermining the integrity of a country like India. The dragon is very well there at the borders doing everything it can and even by some accounts, has taken away several kilometres of Indian territory, but the Government is acting as a mute spectator, not informing people about the ground reality while pushing the opposition away when it wants to discuss: what is China doing on the borders and how grave is the situation; more importantly what India is doing to counter the aggressor which after Galwan has now shifted the action to Arunachal Pradesh.
The China threat has been there for a while and is not something that has emerged after the Tawang clash, rather, well before Galwan happened, the threat was there, but the Government didn’t act, not before Galwan, not even after that and nor does it seem to be in a mood of acting, calling for action, and putting diplomatic pressure on China after the Tawang clash despite the mounting pressure from the opposition and fierce criticism from certain sections of the society.
What is more troubling is that the Prime Minister, who comments and takes minute notes on nearly everything, hasn’t bothered to mention the dragon’s ongoing aggression on the nation’s frontiers, even though he did congratulate Argentina on winning the FIFA World Cup 2022. If the opposition’s arguments are mere “claims,” then it is the government’s duty to refute them and present the facts. However, the Government has made it a point to remain silent on the matter and refuse to provide any answers to the opposition’s “assertions” over China’s conduct.
The Indian government appears to have preferred not to observe what China is doing, not to gaze eastward or even to strike westward, not to discuss it, and not to let anyone else discuss it either. The situation could deteriorate to the point where the government may not be able to do anything if the same course is followed and no action is taken by the government to stop China.
The current dispensation should inform people about the happenings on the border with China, allow the much-needed debate—which the opposition wants to happen in the Parliament—on it, and come up with facts and not stories about how the PLA is being countered by the Indian forces. The bravery is not commending security forces for pushing the aggressors back temporarily, and not acknowledging that there is a problem, the real bravery would be to take a stand, look the enemy in the eye, tell people the whole truth and then formulate, execute the strategy to hit back in ways which always remain at the disposal of the Government. More crucially, the government must overcome its obsession with concealing information that threatens the nation’s security, of which it is the keeper.
