Congress calls EAM S Jaishankar a 'failed' foreign minister; BJP hits out at opposition party

Congress hit out at external affairs minister S Jaishankar for his remarks that China is a bigger economy than India and why should India pick up a fight with the neighbouring nation.

Calling the minister's statement "blasphemous" and alleging it might demoralise the Indian troops on the border, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at the official presser on Wednesday, "India's foreign minister said yesterday in an interview that we are a smaller economy and that he means China is the bigger economy and we cannot go and pick a fight with them. What exactly does he mean?

Shrinate said, "Is he telling us that we are not capable of protecting our territorial sovereignty and that we are not being able to look up to China and ask them questions? What exactly is he trying to do? What he is trying to do is essentially break and shake the confidence of our Indian economy and demean the valour of our armed forces. This is one of the most blasphemous statements made by any foreign minister."


Demanding to know when the status quo ante of April 2020 would be restored at the India-China border, she said, "As also India's longest serving ambassador in China, what do you (external affairs minister) have to say about all the visuals that come about Chinese aggression? What do you have to say about the supreme sacrifices of our forces? What do you have to say about 2,000 square kilometres of land which China has acquired?"

BJP's national general secretary Tarun Chug said in turn that the Congress needs to look at India's foreign policy from an Indian perspective and not an "Italian" perspective. "As we are talking, the world is revereing India's foreign policy. In the last nine years India has emerged as a strong global player and the world has recognised our strength. Be it war or natural disaster or pandemic, we have gone ahead and played a significant role on a global scale. India's foreign policy is a success story and Congress cannot digest the fact," Chug told ET.