Slams PM for comparing West Asia crisis to COVID-19 pandemic; to miss all-party meet on West Asia due to poll events in Kerala; attacks Centre over reports that Pakistan may mediate between Iran, U.S.
Mr. Gandhi, interacting with reporters in the Parliament premises, said the Prime Minister seemed to have forgotten what had happened during the pandemic and “the kind of tragedies that the country witnessed”. Mr. Gandhi said the country’s foreign policy becomes compromised if the Prime Minister is compromised.“Our foreign policy is PM Modi’s personal foreign policy. You can see the results of this, everybody considers this a universal joke. Donald Trump knows exactly what Mr. Modi can do and what Mr. Modi cannot do. If the PM is compromised, our foreign policy is compromised, it is obvious,” the Opposition leader said. Though the government is convening an all-party meeting on West Asia on Wednesday, Mr. Gandhi said he would not be able to take part as he has programmes to attend in election-bound Kerala.“They have called an all-party meeting. There should be a debate, but you have made a structural mistake. You have destroyed the structure and that cannot be corrected. The PM cannot do it. I can give it to you in writing, the PM will do what America and Israel say. He will not work in the interest of India and its farmers, he will do as America and Israel say,” the Opposition leader said. Separately, the Congress also targeted the government over reports that Pakistan could act as a mediator between Iran and the United States. “If these reports are true, they represent a severe setback and rebuff to India - and it is all attributable to the self-styled Vishwaguru,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Mr. Ramesh said that Mr. Trump had hosted Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House twice and had repeatedly embraced him. “The Pakistani establishment has developed a cosy relationship with President Trump’s immediate circle. Mr. Modi’s ill-advised visit to Israel, that ended just two days before the unprovoked U.S.-Israel aerial assaults on Iran began, will go down in our political history as a singularly disastrous choice - one that has made us retreat from a position where we could and should have mediated,” he added.
