India suffered 3 setbacks from US: Cong blames govt's foreign policy

Business Standard

a day ago

Jairam Ramesh said the US' recent statements were both a "challenge and a warning" and required serious thinking
Press Trust of India New Delhi
The Congress on Thursday claimed India has suffered three "huge diplomatic setbacks" from the US which is constantly hyphenating India and Pakistan and that the Modi government's foreign policy has "failed" as it is driven by domestic political considerations.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the US' recent statements were both a "challenge and a warning" and required serious thinking "when the PM is only interested in playing divisive politics".
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should leave aside his "stubbornness" to call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament.
"Yesterday, Indian foreign policy and diplomacy received three huge, undeniable setbacks. The General of the US Central Command gives a statement that Pakistan is a phenomenal partner in counter-terrorism. What is phenomenal? On May 2, 2011, Osama Bin Laden was found in Abbottabad and you are calling that country a phenomenal partner," Ramesh told PTI.
So, the first "setback" is the US general giving a "clean chit" to Pakistan, he said.
US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has said Pakistan is "in an active counterterrorism fight right now and has been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world".
The United States has to have a relationship with Pakistan and with India, and noted that it cannot be a "binary switch" where Washington cannot have ties with Islamabad if it has relations with New Delhi, Kurilla said during a testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
Ramesh further said, "Failed Marshal Asim Munir, who gave such inflammatory, incendiary and provocative statements, talked about the two-nation theory, Hindus and Muslims, and there is a direct relation between his statement and what happened in Pahalgam on April 22. Same Asim Munir gets a special invitation to go to America on US Army Day on June 14, which is incomprehensible."
The third setback is that the US state department spokesperson again repeated that it was US President Donald Trump who was responsible for bringing about a de-escalation between India and Pakistan, the Congress leader said.
He said again the US has hyphenated India and Pakistan while Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar are completely silent on it.
"He (Modi) meets members of delegations but does not have time for an all-party meeting to meet leaders of political parties. Our democracy is based on political parties not on individuals," Ramesh said.
Leaders of opposition parties have written to the PM to call a special session of Parliament but the government has rejected the request and instead announced the monsoon session from July 21.
"Is he (PM Modi) going to allow a special debate on our challenges with China and Pakistan, and now our challenge with the US. We thought that we were having an extended honeymoon with the US but it has delivered three huge setbacks to Indian diplomacy yesterday," Ramesh said.
This is a "failure" of the government of India, of the PM, of his External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, of his Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and of his drum beaters, Ramesh said.
"I am shocked that these setbacks have come two days after the prime minister has met the delegation of MPs," he told PTI.
Ramesh accused the PM of playing politics by picking and choosing individuals.
"We are saying call an all-party meeting, an all-party meeting where you don't determine who will be there like you did in picking delegations," the Congress leader said.
He alleged that the government's diplomacy is "totally domestic oriented".
"Whatever we do abroad -- how does it play domestically? It is for domestic consumption. All observers are saying that these delegations were for domestic consumption," he said.
Ramesh claimed that the foreign policy of the Modi government is being dictated by domestic political considerations.
Earlier, in a post in Hindi on X, Ramesh asserted that decades of diplomatic progress cannot be allowed to be weakened so easily.
"It is reported that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir has been invited to the event organised in Washington DC on the occasion of US Army Day (14 June). This news is a big setback for India from a diplomatic and strategic point of view," Ramesh said.
"This is the same person who used provocative and inciting language just before the Pahalgam terror attack - the question arises what is America's intention," the Congress general secretary said.
Recently, the head of the US Central Command also stated that Pakistan is a "great partner" of America in the fight against terrorism, Ramesh said.
"The Modi government is saying that Operation Sindoor is still going on. In such a situation, the Pakistani army chief's participation as a guest in the US Army Day is definitely a matter of serious concern," he said.
Ramesh said the Trump administration is constantly making statements which can only be interpreted to mean that it is "hyphenating" India and Pakistan.
"The prime minister is welcoming the delegations that returned after informing the entire world, including the US, about Pakistan's role in supporting terrorism, and at the same time, such news is coming from Washington DC makes India's diplomatic position even more uncomfortable," Ramesh said.
"The prime minister should now leave aside his stubbornness and concern for prestige and call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, so that the nation can clearly express its collective will and a concrete roadmap can be presented to the country," he said.
The statements from the US come days after an all-party Indian parliamentary delegation visited the country to convey India's strong resolve to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.