The Indian National Congress and the Chinese Communist Party share a rather loving and emotional history with each other, the roots of which can be traced back to a ‘Memorandum-of-Understanding’ (MoU) signed between them in August 2008. The said MoU has once again been reinvigorated into public memory, as the Congress’ reluctance to directly take on the CCP and Xi Jinping, remains out for all to see. What is particularly interesting is the lack of public knowledge about the contents of the said MoU, which make the affair between the Congress and the Chinese government all the more shady.
Is it this very MoU which prevents the Congress from taking a hard-line stance against the Chinese state, particularly the CCP? It is perhaps the same MoU, which necessitated senior leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhury to delete his aggressively anti-China tweet in May, at the behest of higher powers in the party, of course.
At a time when border tensions with China are simmering, the Congress party back home has occupied itself in relentlessly and aimlessly attacking the government with all falsities at their disposal, alongside their very own minion masquerading as a defence analyst – Ajai Shukla. Further, is it this MoU which time and again facilitates secretive meetings between the Gandhi family and senior CCP officials?
Signed on August 8, 2007 by the Congress’ then General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi, and China’s then Vice-President Xi Jinping, the MoU allegedly provides the two parties the opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments. As such, the Congress and CCP sharing a deep sense of understanding on even contentious bilateral issues should not come as a surprise any longer. Sonia Gandhi was also present during the inking of the said MoU in Beijing. Reportedly, before the signing of the MoU, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi had held a long meeting with Xi Jinping and other senior leaders of the Communist Party of China. It cannot be said with absolutely surety, that the Gandhis to this day, are not in direct and personal contact of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.
The steamy affair of the Congress and CCP first caught public eye when during the 2017 Doklam stand-off, the then Congress Vice-President, Rahul Gandhi was exposed meeting secretly with the Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, and other officials. The Congress at first denied such reports, however, was later caught with its pants down when the Chinese side admitted to meeting Gandhi. The meeting came at a time when the Congress, as the principal opposition party, was mounting an aggressive campaign criticizing the Modi government’s handling of the Doklam standoff.
Two years later, Rahul Gandhi admitted to having met Chinese ministers during his Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. At an event in Bhubaneshwar, Gandhi had mistakenly said, “When I had gone to Kailash, I met a couple of their ministers, and they said no job creation is not a problem in China at all. We have plenty of jobs.”
Also, during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it is worthy to note that while the Prime Minister or the President did not head a governmental delegation to China to attend the opening ceremony of the games, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Robert and Priyanka Vadra along with their children were in attendance for the same.
Sonia Gandhi at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a ‘personal’ guest of the Chinese government…
Dr MMS, then PM, was not extended the invite even though other heads of states were present.
Congress must explain why Sonia, who held no public office then, accepted Chinese hospitality? pic.twitter.com/VRCizyhK8h— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) June 19, 2020
What is worrisome is the Congress party’s direct link with the CCP, even as India is engaged in a now violent faceoff with the Chinese. Although the contents of the MoU are not public knowledge, if there is an understanding between India’s oldest party, and China’s only party, to share information with each other, then India’s national security is most likely being compromised by the Gandhis. To call the MoU an inter-party bilateral agreement would be wrong. The CCP is not a party, it is the very government of China. As such, the Congress party shares a direct and secretive understanding with the governing regime of China, and that is a grave threat for India.
The Congress party must come clean infront of the people of India, and the existing MoU with the Chinese regime must be rescinded immediately. Without it doing so, the thought that the Congress attended an all-party meeting pertaining to the current standoff is scary, to say the least.