The Congress branded S. Jaishankar as “India’s most failed Foreign Minister”, accusing him of insulting the Indian armed forces which are guarding our territorial integrity braving all odds on the Indo-China border, with his allegedly fawning remarks for China.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, at a press conference in party headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday, said, “India’s most failed Foreign Minister yesterday in an interview with an agency said that we are the smallest economy and he means — China is the bigger economy and we cannot go and pick a fight with them. What exactly does he mean? Is he telling us that we are not capable of protecting our territorial sovereignty; we are not being able to look up to China and ask them questions?”
Mr. Jaishankar gave an interview to news agency ANI on Tuesday. Such a comment, she said, “breaks and shakes” the confidence of the Indian economy and “demeans” the valour of our armed forces.
‘Most blasphemous statements’
“People, who are standing at the border and defending our territorial integrity, do not need to be told that we are the smaller economy and they are the bigger economy and shouldn’t we pick up a fight with them. This is one of the most blasphemous statements made by any Foreign Minister,” Ms. Shrinate remarked.
To add insult to the injury, Ms. Shrinate said Mr. Jaishankar asserted that he had been the longest-serving Indian ambassador in China. Calling upon his expertise in the sector, Ms. Shrinate demanded to know when will status quo ante be restored in April 2020 and why have we increased the trade deficit to a hundred billion dollars. “We are almost funding the Chinese Army to do the incursions that they do,” she commented.
She also slammed the government for keeping mum on China, not reacting or commenting on reports that India has ceded nearly 2000 square kilometres of land to China, with the patrolling points turning into buffer zones and China constructing robust military and transport infrastructure in Doklam and across Pangong Tso Lake.
“The border was largely silent for 50 years after 1967, barring an incident in 1987. Why are there so many multiple incursions now? The UPA government in 2006 adopted the current active border infra policy. The roads, tunnels, actively marked, were mostly planned by Shyam Saran task force in 2006, constructions of roads, tunnels and high landing grounds for heavy aircraft began in 2008 and was largely completed by 2014,” she said, accusing the government of reversing the gains made by the Congress-led UPA government.
