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New Delhi, Sep. 15 (IANS): The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his absence from the Lok Sabha as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about the India-China border issue, saying that "he is frightened to face tough questions".
The Congress also walked out of the Lok Sabha after being denied permission to speak about support to the Indian Army following Rajnath Singh's statement.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: "Today, in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh was set to speak about Ladakh. For the Congress, the country is supreme. Our Army is our pride.
"Thus, when Rajnath Singh spoke on Ladakh and talked about a resolution, we demanded a minute to pay our respect to the armed forces. But we were not allowed to speak."
Chowdhury said that though there were many questions on the issue, the Congress knew that the Modi government was not ready to provide the answers.
Citing the parliamentary debate over the 1962 India-China war, the Congress leader said: "Then opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee had demanded to know about the India-China war and sought a debate in Parliament. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ensured a debate was held for two days in Parliament."
The Congress leader said: "We knew that this government will not be ready to discuss the India-China issue in Parliament though we have given a number of notices for a debate."
"We were stopped from speaking in Parliament. We know that the government is frightened by questions raised by the Congress. The manner in which a resolution was moved by Rajnath Singh, he praised the Prime Minister; but when the resolution was to be passed, Modiji was absent. Why was he absent? It is because he is frightened. He had earlier claimed that no one had entered India, nor any Indian land occupied by China. The Prime Minister has no answers; so he fears a discussion in Parliament."
He said that if the Congress members were allowed to speak in Parliament, the government would be exposed.
Chowdhury demanded that the government must tell the nation what actually was transpiring on the LAC. "They curtailed the discussion because they don't have any answers," he said.