Sikkim standoff: Congress demands PM Modi's statement on border dispute with China

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a statement on why India was “eyeball to eyeball” with China after swinging with President Xi Jinping in Sabarmati.

He said the situation on the border with China “was very serious” and the government must spell out its policy on how to defuse the tension.

“These are very sensitive and very serious issues. Who is in power the present BJP is in power. It is for that government to tell us what they wish to do; we only know that from the ‘jhoola’ at Sabarmati to the present situation there is a big gap - from swinging to being eyeball to eyeball,” he said.

“Now it is for the prime minister to make a statement which he has not made so far as to why this has happened and what the country needs to do,” Sibal said.

The former Union minister said the Congress was with the government when it came to intrusion by China or Pakistan. “We all stand together,” he said.