CHENNAI:
The tension that prevails in the Galwan valley is echoing all around the country. China has officially time and again claimed that the entire valley is on their side of the LAC and that India has no jurisdiction over the valley.
The Prime Minister in his all party address on 19th June contradicted the statements of the Army Officers and the Ministry of External Affairs made on 16th and 17th June. The PMO also issued an explanatory statement within 10 hours of his speech terming the questions as a ‘mischievous’
attempt to misinterpret the PM’s statements, said Makkal Needhi Maiam Party president Kamal Haasan.
They also state they are worried that such questions raised by the opposition and India’s citizens may affect the morale of the soldiers. In fact, the mischief lies in continuing to emotionally manipulate people with such statements. I sincerely request the PM and his supporters to stop doing that.
Millions of true nationalists like me are deeply pained by the sacrifice of soldiers’ deaths. Our questions around that to the office of the PM cannot be treated as anti-national. The right to ask questions is the base of democracy and we will continue asking till we hear the truth.
The current Prime Minister has frequented China more times than any other PM since independence. The Mahabalipuram summit was claimed to be a diplomatic success. Merely 8 months later, the Chinese stab us in the back by killing our unarmed soldiers. If that is the result of the government’s diplomacy then either their strategy has failed miserably or they failed to read the intentions of the Chinese correctly. In both cases, it is the government who needs to answer a few more questions. But we will leave those for some other day.
Today we need to know how are our soldiers’ lives being safeguarded? We are proud of the bravery and capability of our soldiers. They are amongst the best fighting forces in the world. It is disrespecting to the army if anyone even hints that its morale will be shaken by a few
pertinent questions asked by citizens to the government. Our army is a lot tougher than that. But their lives must not be taken for granted.
We need to know what is being done to control China’s belligerence at the border. And let’s remember it is not the army’s job to do that. The army is the last resort when diplomacy fails. What should have been achieved through peace talks and goodwill is being expected by our soldiers by sacrificing their lives!
The Government needs to divulge facts about what exactly happened on that day at Galwan so as to stop rumours. We know that certain information will be classified but you can manage communication better than by just saying ‘Don’t doubt the army’ and ‘Don’t be an anti-
national’. We are beyond all that now. Let us have some transparency and accountability for a change.
