S Jaishankar also accused Rahul Gandhi of undermining India’s national morale. (document)
New Delhi:
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday slammed Rahul Gandhi for China-related comments during his recent visit to the UK, saying he was dismissive of India for seeing the Congress leader “drooling” over China Gu felt uneasy.
Comments by Mr. Jaishankar at the interactive session India Today Conclave A few days ago, Gandhi took aim at the foreign minister and government’s approach to the challenge from China.
“When a panda hugger tries to be a China hawk, it doesn’t fly,” the minister said, referring to comments made by American writer Michael Pillsbury at the secret meeting. Pillsbury said in his speech Some “panda huggers” in the US are mentioned.
“I also, like many others, listened to some of what Rahul Gandhi said when he was in the UK. Obviously, a lot of it was politics. I put that aside. When it comes to politics, there is a discount,” he said. Answer a question.
“When I see someone drooling over China and dismissing India, I am disturbed as an Indian citizen. I will give you an example. He described China’s suo motu in his Cambridge lecture,” Mr Jaishankar explain.
“You know what word he has in mind when he talks about China, ‘harmony’. One of his words for China is harmony; one of his words for India is discord,” Jaishankar added.
Responding to a question, the foreign minister also quoted Gandhi’s comments on China’s manufacturing capabilities.
“He talks admiringly about how China is the greatest manufacturer and no one can…yes China does a lot of work but no one. But when it comes to manufacturing in India, he demeans it in every possible way It,” Mr Jaishankar said.
“He said ‘Make in India’ doesn’t work. I mean when you make Covaxin, Congress says Covaxin doesn’t work. You can objectively assess the progress of other countries. There is nothing wrong with that. But in this case, talk about Competitive relations …,” the minister said.
Mr Jaishankar also accused Mr Gandhi of undermining India’s national morale.
“You tell me I’m scared, I’m asking you why someone is destroying the morale of the country like this. It’s not just economics, let’s even look at security. He talked about connectivity, he expressed his admiration when he talked about the Belt and Road Initiative and the road initiative ,”He said.
“He compared OBOR to the Yellow River gushing out of China….Guys, OBOR goes through PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). It violates our national integrity and sovereignty. He has nothing to say about that,” Jaishankar added road.
Gandhi’s recent comments at Cambridge University that Indian democracy was under attack and that several politicians, including him, were under surveillance drew a sharp reaction from the BJP, which accused him of denigrating the country on foreign soil after successive election setbacks image of.
“Everyone knows that Indian democracy is under pressure and attacks, and it’s all over the news…the institutional framework needed for democracy: parliament, press freedom, judiciary, and the idea of mobilization, these are all constrained. We are facing An attack on the basic structures of Indian democracy,” Mr Gandhi said.
Referring to “two different perspectives” on the U.S. and China since World War II, the congressional leader said that, in addition to shedding manufacturing jobs, the U.S. became less of a threat after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. open up.
At the same time, China “advocates harmony” by organizing around the Chinese Communist Party, he said.
During an interaction with the Indian community organized by the UK chapter of the India Overseas Congress (IOC), Mr Gandhi lashed out at Mr Jaishankar’s remarks on China in an interview.
“If you notice the foreign minister’s statement, he said that China is much stronger than us. Think China is stronger than us, how can I fight them? The core of the ideology is cowardice,” Gandhi said.
Speaking at an India Insight event organized by the Indian Journalists Association (IJA), Gandhi lamented the failure of the democratic part of the world, including the US and Europe, to notice that “a large part of democracy has collapsed”.
(Aside from the title, this story is unedited by NDTV staff and published via a syndicated feed.)
