Congress MP calls for Bill to penalise aggression against India by other nations

The Congress leader had introduced a Bill titled 'The Sanctions on Countries Engaging Territorial Incursions into India Act, 2022' during the Winter Session

At a time the ruling and Opposition parties are locking horns over India-China military clashes, a Congress MP has demanded penalising countries through economic, diplomatic and political routes for aggression against India and transgressing into Indian territory.

M K Raghavan, a Congress MP from Kerala's Kozhikode, believes that a legislation is required to impose restrictions on those countries that tries to "destabilise" India's democracy though the government is giving "befitting" reply to such attempts.

Against this backdrop, Raghavan introduced a private member's bill 'The Sanctions on Countries Engaging Territorial Incursions into India Act, 2022' in Lok Sabha during the recently-concluded Winter Session of Parliament.

According to Raghavan, several countries bordering India have tried to impose their military might over the past few years through various forms of aggressions, including by commenting upon internal security matters.

Raghavan believes that India should "cut all relations" with those countries that display "such aggression on our borders" and imposition of economic, political and diplomatic sanctions will bring those countries to negotiating tables.

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The initiative comes against the backdrop of Congress and other Opposition parties' unsuccessful demand for a discussion in Parliament on the India-China border row, especially after the December 9 military clashes in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been continuously raising the issue, on Saturday asked the Narendra Modi government not to hide the incidents along the border and clearly tell China that it has to leave Indian territory which it has transgressed.

"India always respects territorial sovereignty and the resolution of disputes through peaceful means. However, we cannot have economic, political and diplomatic relations with such countries which on the one hand engages in territorial aggression and on the other tries to dump their products in our economy," the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill said.

"Hence sanctions at various levels will help us fight war without weapons enabling us to achieve status quo ante at the shortest possible time," it said.

According to Raghavan's Bill, the Cabinet Committee on Security should analyse the severity of the threat emanating from territorial incursion and recommend sanctions to be imposed on that nation. The President can impose three types of sanctions—economic, diplomatic and political.

Economic sanctions include stoppage of all trade relations, disallowing entry of any goods with the aggressor as country of origin, banning Indian firms from importing goods from the aggressor and total boycott of aggressor from cyberspace, including banning of various apps and electronic communications, if the aggression is digital in nature.

Diplomatic sanctions include boycott of all events organised by the aggressor, calling diplomatic representatives for explanation and if necessary, ceasing diplomatic relations. In political sanction, all political dialogues should be disengaged and restrict political representatives from engaging in any conversations.