The Congress said on Monday that the Modi government had failed to convince its BRICS partners to condemn Pakistan as the source of terror operations in India in the joint declaration signed in Goa. This, the party said, was in sharp contrast to the manner in which the government had politicised the recent surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for possible electoral gains at home.
“The problem is that where the government has to speak, it is keeping silent,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said here. “The Goa declaration of BRICS is perhaps the most sterling example of the government’s absolute and abject failure. Despite all the rhetoric and its laser sharp remarks on terror and talk of isolating Pakistan, it has managed one little remark in almost a 20-paragraph Goa declaration. And what does it say, ‘We strongly condemn the recent several attacks against some BRICS countries, including that in India’.”
“While there is a mention of everything from the IS to Syria, to Afghanistan, to the Israel and Palestinian question, where is the reference to Pakistan in the entire Goa declaration?” he asked.
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He said Manohar Parrikar was “an embarrassment to the nation” and unfit to be the Defence Minister. This was shortly after Mr. Parrikar gave the credit for the surgical strikes to the RSS.