‘When you go abroad and say India has problems': Jaishankar's jibe at Rahul
Jaishankar said, “If you say that India has problems and great concerns and the world must do something about it, this has big implications.”
External affairs minister S Jaishankar, taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, speaking at Aryabhatta College said on Friday said arguments in a democracy are not the problem but that when leaders go outside India and invite people from outside to come and interfere, it becomes the problem.
Jaishankar said, “In any democracy, there will be arguments. There will be differences, there will be diversity and opinions. And it should be there, there is nothing wrong with it. The problem happens when you take it outside. What is a bigger problem is that you take it out and then invite people from outside to come and interfere.”
He added, “If you say that India has problems and great concerns and the world must do something about it, this has big implications and that is not good for the country.”
Jaishankar and Rahul Gandhi row
Jaishankar on Thursday countered Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Modi government during a visit to the US, saying the successful holding of elections won by different parties proved democracy is thriving in India.
Jaishankar made the remarks while addressing a special media briefing on foreign policy during nine years of the Modi government alongside ministers of state V Muraleedharan, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh. He has criticised Gandhi several times in recent days over Rahul Gandhi’s comments during public events in the US attacking the government and the state of democracy in India.
“The world is watching and what are they seeing? Elections are held, sometimes one party wins and at other times, another party wins. If there is no democracy in the country, such a change wouldn’t be happening. Every election should have the same result. But we know what the result of the 2024 election will be,” Jaishankar said, speaking in Hindi.
The Congress party launched a blistering attack on Jaishankar afterwards on Thursday, the party's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said he hopes the minister was able the block the transmission of news reports that showed the government in a poor light.
“I hope Mr Jaishankar was able to block the transmission of Hathras, Lakhimpur, farmers’ protests, wrestlers’ protests, news on Kathua, Unnao, Ankita Bhandari, Manipur, etc across the world,” Khera said in a tweet.
Rahul Gandhi in US
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in an address during his recent visit to the United States said India was being run by a group of people who were 'absolutely convinced' that they knew everything. They could sit down with God and explain things, Rahul Gandhi said adding that the prime minister is 'one such specimen'.
"I think if you sat Modiji down next to God, Modiji would start explaining to God how the universe works. Right? And God would get confused that what have I created. These are funny things but this is what is going on. There's a group of people who understands everything. They can explain science to scientists, history to historians, warfare to the Army.. And at the heart of it is mediocrity, they actually don't understand anything. Because in life, you can not understand anything if you are not ready to listen," Rahul Gandhi said.
India has not rejected any idea, Rahul Gandhi said exhorting the NRIs at his address. “That's the India you represent. You would not be here if you did not agree with these values. If you believed in anger, hatred, and arrogance, you would be sitting in a BJP meeting and I would be doing 'mann ki baat'. So thank you very much for holding up the Indian Flag in India,” he further said.
