China has surrounded India from all three sides: M M Joshi

Raising concern over rising threat to country's security, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government must come out with a statement in the Parliament informing about the level of preparation for securing country's frontier in the north and north east, and assure people that government will take adequate steps for country's security.

Talking to the media, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, "The present government at the Centre has not been able to provide strong logistics for safety and security of the country. Our northern borders are highly insecure. Especially in north east side, the defence programmes and infrastructure developments are not up to the mark."

He said, "The Chinese preparation in other side of the border throw a challenge to Indian development efforts in these areas. China has surrounded India from all three sides. All along the northern border, the Chinese forces; both army and air force, are well-equipped with modern hardware and are capable of even launching nuclear missiles."

He added, "China has already occupied large parts in Siachen. The Chinese forces make their presence felt in Ladakh and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. This is a serious threat on our northern border. China has been able to obtain right to use Gwadar seaport in Pakistan and thereby access through Pakistan to the Arabina sea. China has invested a lot to make a sea port in South Sri Lanka, and so wants to make its presence felt in Indian Ocean."

"China has already objected India's presence along Vietnam Sea Coast and it doesn't want India to take up oil exploration in that area," Joshi said adding such a situation demands that the government comes up with a statement in the Parliament about its strategy to secure frontiers of the country.

Regarding the frontiers in the north east, Joshi said the government should learn from the past experience about Chinese design in the area, and no stone should be left unturned to take up development projects in the north at the war footing.

He lambasted the UPA government for failing to check rising prices despite its repeated assurance and said that the situation reflected government's lack of economic policy relevant to Indian condition.

He accused the government of playing games with statistics and lampooned the recent assessment that put a person from rural India earning Rs 32 a day above the Below Poverty Line.

"This is a very cruel joke on the poor people of India," the BJP leader said.

Joshi termed the recent statement of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee about India's readiness to help the European Union to get out of difficulty as 'something very ridiculous.'

Joshi demanded that there should be a scientific way to determine the number of poor people in the country and said the government must come up with a food security bill aimed at making India 'hunger-free'.

Image: Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi

Photograph: Kamal Kishore/Reuters