India should match China's defence power: Tarun Vijay

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

22 OCT, 2012, 10.05PM IST, PTI

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/india-should-match-chinas-defence-power-bjp-mp/articleshow/16918933.cms

MUMBAI: India should learn lessons from the 1962 Indo-China war and relook at its defence preparedness in respect to the neighbouring country, BJP MP Tarun Vijay said today.

"As the country observes 50th year of the Chinese invasion, India needs to relook at its defence preparedness in respect to China," Vijay, the Rajya Sabha MP, said.

Stressing that India should match the neighbouring country in military might, he said "Friendship can be lasting if the engagement is between two equally powerful partners. China should be made aware that the scars it inflicted on Indian psyche are hard to be erased."

Vijay demanded that the government tell the nation as to where it stands as compared with Chinese military might.

The BJP leader said India should take up the issue of presence of People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

"PoK is constitutionally and legally a part of India. The country should protest the presence of foreign armed forces on its soil at the international fora," he said and accused the government of not standing up to China's aggressive postures, calling it "spineless".

During his visit to Milam glacier in Uttarakhand, Vijay said he found ITBP forces have to walk 105 km to reach the borders while Chinese troops have motored roads to ferry their personnel to the border.

In Ladakh's Pangong lake, China has 22 state-of-art mechanised patrol boats while India has two old ones, he said.

"The border villages are facing unprecedented exodus towards cities. These are dangerous signals for the Army as the locals are their ground support during crisis," he said.

Vijay demanded that the border villages be declared as special defence areas and budget should be allocated for their development.

He claimed that the NDA government had ambitious programme of constructing border roads and tenders were also issued, but in the last eight years there has been no progress.

Vijay said there is concern over the manner in which "China was encircling" India in PoK, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives. "Do we have an answer to counter this?" he asked.