Kolkata, June 8 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavyweight and former human resource development (HRD) minister Murli Manohar Joshi Sunday demanded that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) should clear its stand on the Indo-Chinese relationship. “The CPI-M has not clearly stated its position about the development of India-China relationship. It’s not at all transparent whether they (CPI-M) consider Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang and a small village in Sikkim as integral parts of India or they think it’s a disputed territory,” Joshi said at a press conference here.

He said the CPI-M never raised its voice against the Chinese aggression and the Marxist party had no clear-cut policy on the issue.

Arunachal Pradesh is an Indian state on its north-eastern periphery bordering China, Bhutan and Myanmar. However, China disputes the Sino-Indian border that runs along the Himalayan range extending from Bhutan to Myanmar.

“Now when the Chinese prime minister failed to have a meeting with India’s foreign minister during his recent visit to China, the Left parties also kept mum in that regard,” Joshi said.

He said: “I want to ask if the CPI-M cares for the interests of the common people. They are not worried about the price rise or any other issue related to the common men. Their only concern is to obstruct the BJP to come to power and thus they are supporting the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the Centre.”

China insists that Tawang would have to be returned to China in any future compromise on the border issue between both countries.