Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was “covering up” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “incomptence” in handling diplomacy by openly endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign with the “ Ab ki Baar Trump Sarkar ” slogan at the “Howdy, Modi!” event in Houston.
Mr. Gandhi said the Prime Minister’s comment had caused serious problems with regard to India’s relations with the Democrats, and asked Mr. Jaishankar to teach some ‘diplomacy’ to Mr .Modi.
“Thank you, Mr. Jaishankar for covering up for the PM’s incompetence. His fawning endorsement caused serious problems with the Democrats for India. I hope it gets ironed out with your intervention. While you’re at it, do teach him a little bit about diplomacy,” Mr. Gandhi said on Twitter.
The former Congress chief tagged a news report that quoted Mr. Jaishankar as saying that the Prime Minister’s remarks in Houston should not be misinterpreted.
Mr. Jaishankar said India had adopted a non-partisan stand to domestic American politics and that Mr. Modi was merely repeating Mr. Trump's words when he pitched his candidature to the Indian American community while campaigning for the 2020 US presidential election.
The Congress party had criticised the Prime Minister soon after the Houston event, with former Union Minister Anand Sharma stating that Mr. Modi had broken a ‘time-honoured convention of maintaining bipartisan stance’.
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