New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday cited new satellite images from Twitter handle @detresfa to claim the construction of new Chinese villages in the Doklam plateau and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi take the nation into confidence on the national security situation.
“New satellite images show purported construction of Chinese villages in the Bhutanese territory over the last year. Multiple new villages can be seen spreading through roughly 100 sq km (25,000 acre) area. The villages were constructed between May 2020 and November 2021,” Congress spokesperson Goruav Vallabh alleged.
“These new villages lie near the Doklam plateau where India and China had a faceoff in 2017, after which China bypassed Indian defences to resume road construction activity in the region,” Vallabh alleged.
He said, “The new construction is particularly worrying for India since India has historically advised Bhutan on its external relations policy and continues to train its armed forces.”
Noting that “100 sq km of illegal incursion by way of four Chinese villages in Bhutan next to Doklam is a blow to India’s national security”, the Congress asked the Prime Minister to answer.
“When will the government respond to verbal, geographic, military and strategic aggression of China? We urge the PM to not hide behind smokescreens and to answer the people,” said Vallabh.