The Congress has again questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “mysterious and inexcusable” silence on Chinese intrusion, pointing to the latest satellite pictures suggesting new constructions inside Arunachal Pradesh.

On Sunday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said at a news conference: “It is a sad and distressing story of deception, prevarication on a subject like national security. It is a case of deliberate distortion, digression and diversion on an issue affecting India’s integrity and sovereignty. Can you have doublespeak, hypocrisy on national security? What is the definition of national security? We don’t understand this definition of national security, where you berate, browbeat, intimidate the whole country on national security issues and keep silent on this kind of thing.”

Pointing to the divergent views in the government, Singhvi said: “Virtually No. 2 in the defence hierarchy General Bipin Rawat says all is well and everything is happening on the Chinese side of the border. Is it not a travesty he doesn’t answer any particularity and Arindam Bagchi, the MEA spokesperson, on the same day said, ‘China has undertaken construction activities in the past several years along border areas, including in the areas that it has illegally occupied over decades. India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor has it accepted the unjustified Chinese claims.’ And you have the Prime Minister’s inexcusable silence.”

The Congress spokesperson also recalled defence minister Rajnath Singh’s rhetoric that nobody can occupy even an inch on India’s territory without dealing with specifics. The latest intrusion shows the Chinese have built infrastructure 6-7km inside Indian territory. Showing satellite imageries, he said: “We can see a cluster of 60-70 houses. This is apart from the encroachments reported into Bhutanese territory. The Prime Minister who speaks on everything is silent on these issues.”

The Congress has been ceaselessly raising questions about the Chinese aggression in different parts of the country but the government hasn’t given credible, categorical explanation. Singhvi insisted that everybody stood for national interest and the government too should take these concerns in a constructive manner instead of seeing it through partisan politics.