'If an 'informal meeting' with Xi Jinping materialises before the SCO summit in June, that itself could be regarded as a significant breakthrough in India-China relations,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese embassy in Delhi first posted and later removed a statement on its website saying that the two met after the Congress denied it as "fake news".
So far, the Central Sector has never seen active hostilities, remaining peaceful even through the 1962 war. A reason for the Central Sector having remained peaceful is the towering Himalayan watershed that defines the border.
In his dare, the Congress president asked the PM to reduce the spiralling fuel prices in the country or face a nationwide stir by his party.
'The reshuffle was expected to show some sign about the BJP's awareness of the looming difficulties.'
'But there is no certainty that the new inductees will be able to breathe life into the government,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the upcoming assembly election is a fight between trust on development and dynastic politics.
'Modi maintains what has been called a 'strategic silence' on controversial topics,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
'It is an unpleasant fact of history that stronger nations dominate the power play and the only way it can be mitigated is through recourse to diplomacy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Russian diplomacy is presumably at work.' 'The ground is slippery, because "territorial sovereignty" is a hugely sensitive issue,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We must look at the entire question of military preparedness anew, taking into account the new realities,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'There is more responsibility because it is India versus China and right now the situation is bad.'
Xi, the most powerful leader in recent decades heading the ruling Communist Party and the military, will now be the first Chinese leader after the founder chairman Mao Zedong to remain in power lifelong.
Xi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, called the progress China had made under his watch "truly remarkable
'I am hopeful that you will see more focused attention on this relationship,' former US assistant secretary of state Nisha Desai Biswal tells Alokananda Chakraborty.
Here's what happened next...
'Where is the analysis that we need to spend at least Rs 4 trillion to keep India safe?'
'India needs to learn in Kashmir how to spread development.' 'Pakistan needs to learn in Balochistan how to spread development.' 'China needs to learn in Xinjiang and Tibet.' 'And if they can show tangible benefits, there will be less terrorism.' 'No one wakes up in the morning saying 'I want to kill myself', right?'
President Xi said that the Chinese side is ready to work with the Indian side to carry forward the fresh impetus of bilateral relations.
'I think we have had these periods of standoffs with China.' 'And there is enough knowledge, enough experience, enough wisdom still available to be able to retrieve situations.'
'The Modi government's greatest blunder is to exploit sensitive external relations in its domestic politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
How will the Modi Sarkar's likely return affect other nations?
'Alas, the Congress party offers no suggestions as to how to unscramble the omlette it cooked during 2004-2014 on which the Modi government may have since lavishly spread some tomato ketchup,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Chinese mindset and approach to India is far different from that in Pakistan.' 'This reality makes it possible for us to follow an engagement policy with one, while militating against engagement with the other.'
Nationalism, Hindutva, and war on corruption, not growth, will define Modi's politics until 2019.
The Chinese have just one commander for all the forces confronting India. Commanders of all these forces answer to one man, and one headquarter. India, on the other hand, offers a diversity of options that is a military embarrassment in the 21st century. In Arunachal and Sikkim-Bhutan, the Eastern Army Commander is in charge. In the Uttarakhand (central) sector, it will be the Central Army Commander. The Himachal-Tibet border is the domain of the Western Army Commander. And all of Kashmir and Ladakh further on, the Northern Army's. Effectively, an array of at least eight 'three-star' commanders will be arrayed against one Chinese, says Shekhar Gupta.
The party is finding increasing acceptability in the 18-35 years age group with Rahul Gandhi adding a million followers in the past 2 months and Facebook and Twitter also seeing similar spikes.
'Make in India is one of the priorities identified by Minister Sitharaman and this is our great weakness,' warns Vice Admiral Premvir Das.
'The digital age has forced diplomats to be less formal and more accessible, reaching out to ordinary people both within and outside their countries, combining statecraft with streetcraft,' says former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
'Even though an India-China military conflict scenario seems unlikely, its possibility gets enhanced if our capabilities are seen to be inadequate by the adversary,' warns Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'The American fear of the Chinese military is overblown. The countries that should be concerned are China's neighbours,' Jeffrey Wasserstrom tells Rahul Jacob.
'This is potentially escalatory, as China does not believe that India has any basis for interfering in a bilateral dispute between China and one of its neighbours.'
Modi also said the people of India felt proud that President Xi has twice received him out of the capital.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
'We appreciate his positive evaluation of the relationship and share his optimism about its future directions.' 'We look forward to welcoming him in India next week for detailed discussions on further strengthening of our partnership,' the MEA said on Friday.
'China's growing nexus with Pakistan and the two countries' unresolved territorial disputes with India continue to pose a formidable national security threat to India,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'India should today tell China to provide proper facilities in Minsar for Indian yatris visiting Mt Kailash,' says Claude Arpi.
'Breaking out of the corner into which China has painted itself would be a feat.' 'Whether Xi is able to pull it off will be known in the coming days,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and member of the Joint Intelligence Committee at the time of China's invasion of India.
The Indian Navy has just one aircraft carrier. The INS Vikramaditya carries just 26 unreliable MiG-29 fighters and 10 helicopters -- an insufficient capability to battle a serious foe.
The defence minister has 20 months to learn the military's ethos, culture and to publicly bat for an organisation that feels increasingly marginalised and underappreciated.
The Congress president questioned the government over unfulfilled promises and questioned the Rafale deal.
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