Scrap border defence pact with China, BJP tells Centre

Mirzapur: BJP on Thursday demanded the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), which India had inked with China last month, to be scrapped describing it against the interest of the country. “The Section 6 of the Pact states that if a Chinese solider enters Indian territory while patrolling, his Indian soldiers could not chase him away. It is against the national interest and should be scrapped,” BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_1230205” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BJP President Rajnath Singh. Reuters[/caption] “The Pact was done without taking the Parliament in confidence… This is cheating the country… It should immediately be scrapped,” Singh said, further questioning that when the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China was not earmarked then how it would be defined whether a Chinese soldier had violated the border. “The status quo should be maintained on the Indo-China border,” he demanded. On China’s practise of issuing stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, Singh said this would be stopped or otherwise if BJP comes to power, India would start the similar practise for people of Tibet. On India’s foreign policy, Singh said that if BJP comes to power it would adopt the cooperation policy but the national interest would always remain supreme. Talking about party leader Nitin Gadkari’s allegations that Congress leaders had relation with terrorists, Singh said that it was a subject which should be investigated. “This should be investigated… Congress has always adopted a soft attitude towards terrorists,” he alleged. Reacting to Congress leaders’ comments on its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Singh said that whenever anyone praises the Gujarat Chief Minister everyone in Congress becomes uncomfortable. “After a foreign bank studied on the future possibilities of Modi, entire Congress had been after it,” he claimed. Singh, however, rubbished allegations of tickets being given to party leaders’ son, saying that all those who were given a chance to contest had worked hard to earn it. PTI