‘No call between PM Modi, Trump during April 22-June 16': Jaishankar flays previous Congress govts for weak response on terror

Indian Express

2 days ago

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking in Rajya Sabha on Operation Sindoor, said Wednesday that were two normals as far as dealing with cross-border terrorism was concerned – the Congress normal and the Modi normal. He was taking a jibe at the Opposition over its responses to earlier terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan vis-à-vis the present government's response to the Pahalgam attack through Operation Sindoor.
On the Opposition's continued insinuations with regard to statements by US President Donald Trump on mediating between India and Pakistan, Jaishankar emphatically stated that there was no third-party intervention in bringing about a ceasefire with the neighbouring nation on May 10. 'Kaan khol se sun lein, April 22 se June 16 tak ek bhi phone call President Trump aur Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi ke beech mein nahi huyi (Listen carefully, there wasn't a single phone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi from April 22 to June 16),' he said.
At the beginning of his hour-long address, Jaishankar mentioned the Congress government's inaction in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attack and other such attacks emanating from Pakistan during the party's regime.
'There is a Congress normal, which I spoke about, and there is a Modi normal… The Modi normal is terrorists are not proxies. Number two, cross-border terrorism will get an appropriate response in our way, at our time. Three, talks and terror will not go together. If there are talks, it will only be about terror…number four, we will not give in to nuclear blackmail. And number five, terrorism and good neighbourliness cannot go together,' he said.
'Therefore, sir, blood and water will not flow together. And I know some members raised some issues about it. But I want to say, dams may have taken years to build before. This is the Modi government,' he said. The External Affairs Minister also said terrorism is now on the global agenda only because of the efforts of the Modi government.
On Monday, during his address in Lok Sabha on the issue, he had said, 'Operation Sindoor is a new normal in how we respond to terror,' adding, 'We will never bow down to nuclear blackmail.'
The minister added that the Modi government has corrected the wrongs of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's policies by suspending the Indus Water Treaty. 'The treaty signed by then Prime Minister was not to buy peace, but for appeasement,' he said, adding that the pact put the interests of Western Punjab (in Pakistan) over that of farmers from Kashmir and Rajasthan.
Jaishankar slams 'China gurus'
In his rebuttal, Jaishankar also made an oblique reference to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Jairam Ramesh as 'China gurus', who took 'private tuitions' from Chinese diplomats. The Congress had recently questioned his visit to China, while Gandhi had warned him about the 'two-front challenge' from China and Pakistan.
'I have spent 41 years in the Foreign Service, only being the longest-serving Ambassador, but there are 'China Gurus'. One of them is the member sitting in front of me (Ramesh), whose affection for China is so great, 'unhone ek sandhi bana li thi India aur China ki, Chindia (he conjoined the words India and China as Chindia)',' Jaishankar said during his address in Parliament. The term 'Chindia' was used by Ramesh in his 2007 book 'Making sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India'.
Continuing his jibe, Jaishankar took on Gandhi, saying that while he may lack knowledge about China, he did not learn about the country through the Olympics, or unlike others who took 'private tuitions' at the home of the Chinese Ambassador. Gandhi had attended the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a special invitee.
'…no one called me, I was not a special person. Some people gained their knowledge of China during their visit to the Olympics. Let's not discuss who they met or what they signed. They also took private tuitions at their homes from the Chinese Ambassador,' Jaishankar added, amid objections from the benches across.
'How did China and Pakistan become close?'
On his recent China visit, the minister said it was to discuss terrorism, de-escalation, and trade restrictions. 'I had no secret meeting,' he said, adding that the cooperation between Pakistan and China started in the 1960s, but the previous governments did not deal with the neighbour properly.
'China Gurus say that Pakistan and China have close ties, that is true. But how did they come close? It was because in the middle, we had left Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This issue has been happening since 1962-63, Karakoram highway's planning started in 1966 and finished in 1986. You know whose government was there when nuclear collaboration happened in 1976?' he said, in a veiled attack at successive Congress prime ministers.
'Saying that these ties developed overnight means they were sleeping during the history class,' he said, in response to Gandhi's two-front challenge warning. 'By saying that he is giving a warning…were you sleeping in the history class? This cooperation and strategic partnership grew during the UPA regime, as Chinese companies were invited to invest in India,' he said.
He also added that India exerted huge pressure on Pakistan through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) process, and despite not being a member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), India was able to get UN recognition that The Resistance Front (TRF) is a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The TRF had claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack.
'When the Pahalgam attack happened on April 22, it was a shocking attack for a variety of reasons… All of this angered the country,' he said, adding there was grief and shock across the world, 'there was solidarity and sympathy'.
'But the question was, what after that? And the answers were two. One, such an attack was absolutely unacceptable. There had to be severe consequences. And two, there had to be accountability and justice,' he said. In fact, Jaishankar said that Operation Sindoor also did a global service as India reduced to dust terror infrastructure in Pakistan, including in Bahawalpur and Muridke.
He also took on the Opposition leaders for seeking evidence of India's military action against Pakistan, saying 'they should watch videos of funerals of terrorists in Pakistan and destruction of airfields in the neighbouring country.
'Modi showed Nehru's mistakes can be corrected'
Referring to the Opposition's points about national security, Jaishankar said the biggest damage for India in the last 20 years was the Chinese occupation of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, but the then government did not act on it.
'We were told for 60 years that nothing can be done. Pandit Nehru's mistakes can't be corrected. The Narendra Modi government showed it can be corrected. The Article 370 was corrected. The Indus Water Treaty is being corrected, it is being held in abeyance until Pakistan irrevocably gives up its support of terrorism. Today, we are demonstrating what we say, we will do,' he said.
'Let me tell you what has changed in the last decade. We have been able to put terrorism in every global agenda. Today, if terrorism is on the global agenda, it is due to the efforts of the Modi government,' he said.
'We were able to get Masood Azhar and Abdul Rehman Makki, two notorious terrorists, placed under the sanction of the UNSC… We were able to, through bilateral agreements and understandings, bring back terrorists from key countries, who have been sent back to India. I remind you that Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was wanted for the 26/11 Mumbai attack, has finally been brought back to India by the Modi government,' Jaishankar added.
Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More