NEW DELHI: Amid demands from the opposition that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inform the House about whether the contentious issue of Doklam had been discussed during the informal Wuhan summit in April this year, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj asserted in Lok Sabha that the Doklam issue had been resolved through “diplomatic maturity” and “without losing any ground” to the Chinese.

During question hour on Wednesday, TMC MP Saugata Bose said that while the opposition had shown solidarity with the government over the Doklam issue, the Parliament “deserves to be taken into confidence as to whether or not our Prime Minister raised the Doklam issue and whether the strategic guidance provided by the two leaders to the respective militaries has resulted in the dismantling of the Chinese infrastructure which came uncomfortably close to our Siliguri corridor.”

Bose also said in Lok Sabha that while he had posed his questions to the Prime Minister, the secretariat redirected the questions to the MEA. Pointing to PM Modi — who was present in the House — Bose also referred to a “Parliamentary tradition” of a Prime Minister giving “a statement before this House of the People after an important summit”, in this case the recently-concluded BRICS summit. He said, “I am very happy to hear it from Sushma ji for whom I have the highest respect, but after she has answered this question, I would request the Prime Minister to say a few words about the Summit.”

Even though several opposition leaders, including Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge , demanded that the PM respond, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan disallowed the demanded saying that the PM would only respond to questions posed directly to him in Question Hour.

Swaraj, on the other hand, rose to respond to Bose’s questions, saying that while she was not present at the Wuhan or the BRICS summits, she was entirely capable of answering questions related to the subject, especially since she had personally overseen the preparations.

Swaraj said the main objective of the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan was to ensure mutual comfort, understanding and trust between the two leaders and that all the three objectives have been achieved. “We have resolved the Doklam issue with diplomatic maturity without losing any ground. There is no change in the status quo (on the ground). There is not an iota of change. The face off at sight has been resolved on August 28, 2017,” she said.

The external affairs minister also said the Wuhan informal summit was held without any agenda and without having any objections to discuss any specific issue. She also said as a follow-up to the Wuhan summit, the Chinese defence and foreign ministers will visit India to enhance military cooperation and people-to-people contact.

The external affairs minister also said after the Wuhan summit, both the leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg and the SCO summit. “First things that had happened was that both the leaders would give order to respective military that if there is any incident, any misunderstanding at the ground level, then it should be resolved at that level only and avoid dispute,” she said.

The external affairs minister also said President Jinping has accepted Prime Minister Modi's invitation to visit India for a second informal summit at a mutually convenient time in 2019.

