New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday slammed Foreign Minister S Jaishankar as “the most failed foreign minister” and questioned him over the government’s China policy.
"You are the most failed foreign minister of India… I have no personal issues with you and are not making any charges… but I have to say that you have reduced India’s foreign policy to just getting business to a private group and photo-ops," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a presser on Wednesday.
China question: The presser came a day after the External Affairs Minister, in an interview, said it was Narendra Modi, not Rahul Gandhi who sent the troops to LAC. The EAM's remarks are an apparent dig at Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi who has consistently targeted the BJP government at the Centre over frequent border skirmishes with China and the Centre's overall China policy.
Shrinate said at the presser that US President Joe Biden’s administration is two and half years old but there is no US ambassador in India. "Let us look at the neighbourhood, PM went to Pakistan, China interferes in Sri Lanka and Bhutan has moved away from us while Bangladesh has asked China to set up a Naval base in Cox Bazar. Is this foreign policy?" she asked.
India small vs China big: The Congress leader was reacting to the foreign minister’s comments during the media interview in which he reportedly said that India was a “smaller economy and China was a bigger economy and therefore India was not in a position to pick up a fight with China”. Whatever the foreign minister has said about China is worrying. It will break the morale of the Indian soldiers. Don’t tell lies… don’t play with national security. Instead of asking questions from China, you are trying to defend it, Shrinate said.
Border row: The Congress leader lobbed a series of questions at the foreign minister over the government’s handling of the border row with China. “Since he said he is India’s longest-serving ambassador in China, let me ask some questions… when will status quo ante of April 2020 be restored along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh… What about the huge trade deficit that we have with China… what about the 2,000 sq km land that China occupies, what about the patrolling points along the LAC that have become buffer zones… what about Chinese infrastructure along the LAC like bridges on Pangong Lake and the railway line,” she said.
Also read: Who sent Army to LAC...Rahul Gandhi? It was Narendra Modi, says EAM Jaishankar
No "entry": Shrinate wondered if the foreign minister had advised PM Modi to say that “no one had entered the Indian territory” after the Chinese violated the LAC in 2020. The Chinese PLA commanders used the PM’s statement during the negotiations between the army commanders of the two sides to say that they had not done anything wrong, she said.
“They killed 20 of our soldiers. But the PM greeted Chinese president Xi Jinping wearing a red shirt at an international meet,” she said. The Congress leader noted that whenever the party questioned the foreign policy of the government, the Centre cited an international conspiracy behind that. If everyone is conspiring against India, what are you doing to counter that as foreign minister, she said.
"Stockholm Syndrome": The Congress leader wondered if the foreign minister was suffering from the “Stockholm Syndrome” as instead of asking questions from China, he and his boss PM started bonding with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Congress leader claimed there was more stability along the China border during the previous UPA government and Congress rule but the number of Chinese incursions had increased over the past three years.
She further said that the UPA government had started the active infrastructure development policy in 2006 along the LAC and had sanctioned two mountain divisions of 50,000 soldiers in the Army to deal with the Chinese threat. The Congress leader said that around 2.5 lakh Indians had given up citizenship over the past years due to the Centre’s foreign policy. “Foreign policy can not be about chest-thumping,” she advised.
