New Delhi, Feb 2 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his allegation that India has been isolated and that the Modi government has brought Pakistan and China together “which is the single biggest crime against the people of India”.
To Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that India’s isolation is the reason why there was no Republic Day Chief Guest this year, the EAM asked whether the Congress leader had missed the Summit between PM Modi and the five Central Asian leaders held on January 27. In a series of tweets, the EAM also slammed the Congress leader for alleging that the Modi government has brought Pakistan and China together, and listed “some lessons in history” of the ingressions of Pakistan and China during the time the Congress was in power.
The EAM said that the five Central Asian leaders were to be called for the Republic Day this year, but due to the Covid-19 wave in India they could not attend, and instead the two sides held the planned summit meeting the following day in virtual mode. “In Lok Sabha, @RahulGandhi said we could not get a foreign guest for Republic Day. Those who live in India know we were in the midst of a corona wave. “The 5 Central Asian Presidents, who were to come, did hold a virtual summit on Jan 27. Did Rahul Gandhi miss that as well?”
From 1963 onwards, the EAM listed out “lessons in history” of the Pakistani and Chinese ingressions into the country, and asked if China and Pakistan were distant then. “Rahul Gandhi alleged in Lok Sabha that it is this Government which brought Pakistan and China together.Perhaps, some history lessons are in order: -In 1963,Pakistan illegally handed over the Shaksgam valley to China. -China built the Karakoram highway through PoK in the 1970s. -From the 1970s, the two countries also had close nuclear collaboration. -In 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor started. So, ask yourself: were China and Pakistan distant then?,” he tweeted.
In his statement on the motion of thanks to the President’s speech to Parliament, the Congress leader had said that India has been “completely isolated” among South Asian neighbours and the world. “Ask yourself why we could not get a Republic Day guest. We are completely isolated,” Gandhi said. He said that India’s opponents are witnessing this isolation and would take advantage of it. “The Chinese have a very clear vision of what they want to do. The single biggest strategic goal of the Modi government has been to keep Pakistan and China separate,” Gandhi said, and added that instead the Modi government has brought the two nations together.
“Do not underestimate this, you have brought Pakistan and China together and this is the single biggest crime against the people of India,” he said. “China has a plan, I can see very clearly that China has a clear cut plan, the foundation of their plan has been put in place in Doklam and in Ladakh, and this is a very very serious threat to the Indian nation,” he said, referring to the Chinese ingressions in Ladakh.
“We have made huge strategic mistakes in Jammu and Kashmir and if we do not correct that,” he said. When asked by the treasury benches what the mistakes were in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was bringing Pakistan and China together. He said the Modi government has taken the “concept of two different fronts” and converted it into “one front” of Pakistan and China joining together against India.
He also said that it is very clear that the Chinese and Pakistanis are buying weapons. “We have made a massive blunder and we must make absolutely sure that we can defend ourselves… And remember that you will be responsible for what happens. The nation is now at risk, from outside and from inside… And that is a very dangerous place for a nation to be,” Rahul Gandhi said.
