New Delhi: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday condemned the Congress for criticising its leaders for presenting India’s position on Operation Sindoor in global capitals as part of multi-party delegations.
In an interview with PTI Videos, Singh said Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s remarks on being a patriot were a reflection of the suffocation breeding in the party, where leaders were expected to sing paeans to one family.
The science and technology minister’s comments came after Khurshid, who was part of the multi-party delegation, wondered why it was difficult to be patriotic when on a mission to carry India’s message against terrorism.
“This family-centred party expects its leaders to only praise the family and not the country. This is not just condemnable and worrisome. Is such thinking acceptable in a flourishing democracy?” Singh said.
Congress had criticised Khurshid and former minister Shashi Tharoor for articulating the government’s views on surgical strikes carried out by the armed forces in Uri and on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Khurshid’s remark reflects the suffocation breeding in the party where leaders are expected to sing paeans to one family,” said Singh, the three-term Lok Sabha member from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh said dispatching multi-party delegations to world capitals had a dual advantage — it conveyed a strong message of unity in India on the action against terrorism and that the opposition criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy was merely political.
“When leaders from all parties went abroad and conveyed India’s message, it sent a strong message of our unity to the world. Secondly, when prominent opposition leaders like Salman Khurshid and Shashi Tharoor express these views, it shows that some opposition criticism of PM Modi’s foreign policy is merely political opposition,” Singh said.
The Union minister said opposition leaders with logic and reason can clearly see the new norms and narratives established by the prime minister in foreign and defence policies.
