Congress MP Manish Tewari on Thursday criticised external affairs S Jaishankar for his recent remarks on the border issue with China, saying even an “unconditional surrender is better worded.” Jaishankar, in an interview with ANI’s Smita Prakash, said China was a bigger economy and India was responding to the situation that China has created along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh by violating border agreements.
“They are the bigger economy what I am going to do? I am a smaller economy. Am I going to sort of pick up a fight with a bigger economy? It is not a question of reacting. It is a question of common sense. We had in agreement that we are not supposed to bring to the borders in large numbers…because it is in our interest to stabilize our borders or a situation it is not out of love affection or sentiment. It is a core calculation,” he said.
Reacting to Jaishankar’s statement, Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari said in a tweet, “Minister @DrSJaishankar even an unconditional surrender is better worded if not articulated with greater dignity.”
“If this is the defeatist mindset no wonder that they have been ducking a discussion in Parliament on China since September 2020,” he added.
Congress has been attacking Jaishankar over his remarks and called him “the most failed foreign minister of this country.”
“It has been two and a half years that there has been no US ambassador in India. You do G20, and do dramas but do not lie about the China issue. PLA only says this in the meetings the PM has said there is no encroachment. Is Jaishankar suffering from Stockholm syndrome?” Congress’s social media head Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference.
She added, “EAM in an interview said, ‘We are the smaller economy and they (China) are the bigger economy and we cannot go and we pick up a fight with them.’ What does he mean? This is the most blasphemous statement by an EAM. If foreign countries are plotting, what are you doing then? Bangladesh is doing better on the economic front than us,” she added.
