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‘Those who live in India…’: Foreign minister responds to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on R-Day guests
“Those who live in India know we were in the midst of a corona wave,” external affairs minister S Jaishankar said in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comments on absence of foreign guests at Republic Day.
The prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country was behind the absence of any foreign guests on the 73rd Republic Day celebrations, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said in response to Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Parliament on Wednesday evening, during which the Congress leader said that the Centre could not get any foreign guests to attend the event.
In his remarks in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi criticised the BJP government on its foreign policy and said that the country was “completely isolated and surrounded”.
“Ask yourselves why you are not able to get a guest on Republic Day. Today India is completely isolated and surrounded. We are surrounded in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China. Everywhere we are surrounded. Our opponents understand our position,” he said.
Also read | ‘I feel uncomfortable’: 10 things Rahul Gandhi said in his Lok Sabha speech
Jaishankar took to Twitter to reply to Gandhi’s criticism and said that there was a virtual summit with the leaders of the five central Asian nations who were to attend the Republic Day event as guests. He also took a dig at Gandhi’s travel abroad for a “personal visit”, the last of which was in December 2021.
“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?” Jaishankar tweeted.
The minister also hit back at Gandhi’s comments about China and Pakistan. “Rahul Gandhi alleged in Lok Sabha that it is this Government which brought Pakistan and China together.Perhaps, some history lessons are in order,” Jaishankar said in a subsequent tweet.
“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 said.
Earlier, Gandhi said that the government has brought together China and Pakistan. “The Chinese have a very clear vision of what they want to do. The single biggest strategic goal of India's foreign policy has been to keep Pakistan and China separate. What you have done is, you have brought them together,” he said.
