External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj hit out at the Opposition for alleging that the country’s foreign policy was faulty, saying a leader of the largest opposition party chose to meet the Chinese envoy over the Doklam standoff and not the Indian leadership.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi recently met Chinese envoy Luo Zhaohui amid a military standoff between the two countries in Doklam. “It is my job to be informed on critical issues. I met the Chinese Ambassador, Ex-NSA, Congress leaders from NE & the Bhutanese Ambassador,” Gandhi tweeted.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha over the issue, Swaraj said: “I am very sad that leader of the largest opposition party deemed it proper to meet the Chinese envoy to get information about the standoff rather than approach the Indian leadership.”
Swaraj also said the country’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so strong that India was setting the world agenda.
Replying to a discussion on ‘India’s foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners’, she answered point-by- point the questions raised and concerns voiced by the Opposition parties, mainly targeting the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}Replying to a discussion on ‘India’s foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners’, she answered point-by- point the questions raised and concerns voiced by the Opposition parties, mainly targeting the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}She said the “concerns” voiced by the Congress regarding Chinese involvement in construction of Gwadar port in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka were “born” during the previous UPA rule and the present government was settling these.
She also rejected the Opposition contention that PM Modi was not taking her into consideration with regard to the foreign policy.
“You say that India stands alone. This is far from the truth... All countries are with India... What I am saying is with evidence,” she told the opposition.
Swaraj said it was due to the success of the new foreign policy that both the US and Russia are with India and so are Israel and Palestine as also Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Germany, France, European Union, United Kingdom are also friends and so is the UAE, she added.
“India’s foreign policy is so good now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is setting the global agenda on the world stage,” she said and cited example of how he played a crucial role at the Paris Climate Summit and at G-20 or other world fora.
“The opinion formed by the Opposition in the House that all our neighbours have turned against us is far away from the truth,” Swaraj asserted.
“It is not a fact that all our neighbouring countries are against us. Whenever there is a crisis in any neighbouring country, they look up to India and we are the first to respond to them,” she said.