Amidst reports of China constructing a bridge over the Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh, the Congress party demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the developments at the country's borders.
India asserted that a bridge being built by China across Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh is in an area that has been under that country's "illegal occupation" for around 60 years, and said it was taking all steps to ensure that the country's security interests are "fully protected".
Amidst reports of China constructing a bridge over the Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh, the Congress party demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the developments at the country's borders.
"What has been happening at our borders is a major lapse of national security. Will the PM ever talk about it? #PangongTso #China," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also said any other PM would be focused on serious national security lapses in Pangong Tso and Arunachal Pradesh.
"But for the first time in 70 years, a Prime Minister is worried about security threat from his own party workers," he said, sharing a video of purported BJP workers raising slogans next to the PM’s car when he was held up on a flyover in Punjab's Ferozepur on January 5.
On China building the bridge across the Pangong lake area, External Affairs Minister spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has been monitoring this activity "closely" and that it has never accepted such illegal occupation, in the country's first official comment on the matter.
"This bridge is being constructed in areas that have been under illegal occupation by China for around 60 years now. As you are well aware India has never accepted such illegal occupation," he had said.
( With PTI Inputs)