While the factors that allowed the Chinese Army to intrude at so many places along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh remain to be determ...
While the factors that allowed the Chinese Army to intrude at so many places along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh remain to be determined, there are several credible reports of intelligence lapses that failed to detect the buildup of the People’s Liberation Army.
To add to this is the confused public messaging by the Union government. In May, the Indian Army chief blamed “aggressive behaviour by both sides” – an “extraordinary submission”, argued academic Harsh V Pant that would “give an impression that we are keen to absolve China of its aggressive policy along the LAC”. A month later, with 20 soldiers killed in a clash, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a startling public claim: “Neither has anyone intruded upon our borders, not is anyone currently intruding, nor is any Indian post in the hands of anyone else.” Modi’s statement was so even unusual, even the Chinese media used it to buttress its own government’s propaganda.
Given the Modi’s government’s muscular national security positioning, this incident could have opened itself up to attacks from the Opposition. But most of the Opposition, in fact, decided to not press the Modi government on this issue.
Unusual support
At the all-party meeting called on June 19, for example, West Bengal chief minister did not criticise...
