New Delhi – India’s opposition Congress party on Friday hit out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi over his “cavalier” conduct of foreign policy at theCommonwealth Summit and bilateral meeting with British counterpart TheresaMay, saying it is “hurting” India’s national interests.
Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the prime minister’s”boastful” claims on surgical strike neutralising cross-border terror is”embarrassing” as India continues to be exposed to multiple terroriststrikes from across the border, losing brace officers and soldiers.
“Prime Minister Modi’s cavalier conduct of foreign policy at theCommonwealth Summit in London and the bilateral meeting with the Britishprime minister is hurting India’s national interests. He needs a firmreminder that India engages with its strategic partner countries withmaturity and gravitas and does not take sides or make an uninformedstatement on issues of disputes between two strategic partner countries,”he said in a statement, reported Indian media.
Hitting out at the government’s policy towards Pakistan, Sharma said it hasbeen a “disaster” and it was “unbecoming” of a prime minister to speak outthe way he did. “The BJP government’s Pakistan policy is a disaster. It isboth unfortunate and unbecoming of him to say that India’s prime ministerspeaks to Pakistan in its own language,” he said.
India has the moral high ground and every right to take firm action toconfront and defeat terrorism, he said, adding that the entire nationstands united behind the armed forces in fighting terrorism.
Modi told his British counterpart yesterday that there would be no dilutionin the importance of the UK to India after it leaves the EU, as the twoleaders agreed to infuse new energy into bilateral ties post-Brexit.
Later at an interaction with the Indian diaspora, the Indian prime ministertalked about ‘surgical strikes’ on Pakistan to demolish terror trainingcamps and warned Pakistan that India will not tolerate those who like toexport terror and will respond to them “in the language they understand”.