Congress questions govt over Asean issue and US travel advisory

New Delhi: Targeting Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal once again for terming the Asean nations as "B-team of China", Congress on Tuesday said the Asean co-chair for India FTA review ticking off Goyal for his remarks was yet another blow to Indian diplomacy.

Referring to the ET report about the Asean co-chair for India FTA review ticking off Goyal, Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh said: "India has very close civilizational, cultural, economic and political ties with the 10-nation Asean Group. Asean, that came into being almost six decades ago, has a combined GDP just slightly lower than that of India. The Union commerce and industry minister dismisses them as the B-team of China. Asean now ticks him off. Indian diplomacy suffers yet another blow. This was needless."

Meanwhile, some Congress leaders are also sensing a rift between the external affairs ministry and the commerce ministry over Goyal's remarks.


Congress also took exception to the US government's recent travel advisory on India, cautioning American citizens, especially women, against travelling to India alone, and the party said it was ironic that it came when the US President was rolling out a "red carpet" to the Pakistan Army chief. Asking why the Modi government was keeping mum on US travel advisory, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: "These are very damning advisory and yet the Modi government is absolutely quiet... We demand that the Indian government, at the highest level, should register its protest. On one hand, you (USA) are issuing advisories against India, but zilch on Pakistan. Pakistan, which is a terror state, is going absolutely scot-free. We are being hyphenated."