New Delhi: The Congress on Monday dismissed as an “absolute lie” Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s reported assertion that the government did not ask for names for the all-party diplomatic delegations going abroad, and said it was “cheap politics” to not get the names it selected cleared with the Opposition party.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the same Prime Minister who had abused the Congress publicly in countries such as Australia, the US, South Korea and China, was taking the help of the Opposition party in these delegations.
“Why didn’t the Prime Minister pick up the phone and speak to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi? Why didn’t he have the courtesy to do that? The fact is that our narrative has been punctured and continues to get punctured because of the politics of polarisation in the country,” Ramesh said.
Later, in a post on X, Ramesh said: “After 11 years of abusing and defaming the Opposition -- especially the Congress -- the prime minister is now forced to send all-party delegations overseas. The truth is that the BJP’s poisonous politics at home has cost us hugely abroad. Our sanctimonious diplomacy has fallen flat and India is back to being hyphenated with Pakistan.”
“That is the real ‘new normal’,” he added.
The “self-styled Vishwaguru’s balloon”, which was full of hot air, has been well and truly punctured, Ramesh said.
“It is a reflection of his own inadequacies -- now completely exposed -- that the prime minister is now turning towards bipartisanship. But this is only momentary, hypocritical, and opportunistic,” he said.
On Saturday, the Congress said it was asked by the government to submit the names of four leaders for the all-party delegations to be sent abroad to explain India’s stance on Pakistan-backed terrorism. It nominated Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Of the four, only Sharma has been included in the seven delegations that will be visiting various countries.
Four Congress leaders -- Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Salman Khurshid -- who were not part of the list sent by the Congress have been included in the delegations.
Asked about Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju’s reported remarks that the government never asked the Congress for names, Ramesh said to PTI: “That is a lie -- LIE -- absolute lie. He had a conversation in the morning of May 16 with the Congress president and Mr Rahul Gandhi and in pursuance of that conversation the latter wrote to Mr Rijiju suggesting four names.”
“At no point of time, the Modi government did the Congress the courtesy of saying that, ‘look these are the four names we have selected, what do you have to say about them’,” he added. Ramesh also accused the BJP and the prime minister of having played “cheap politics” on the issue.
He claimed that while India made gains through Operation Sindoor, diplomatically it had been hurt as the narrative changed. “We have to change the momentum for India. The Congress has always said unity and solidarity is very important. ‘Ek Desh, Ek Sandesh’ is very important to deal with terrorism,” he said. with agency inputs