Responding to External Affairs Minister Jaishankar's remarks on Nehruvian style of dealing with China, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday that the foreign minister was indulging in Nehru-bashing to gain favour with the Prime Minister.
S Jaishnakar, in an interview with news agency ANI, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pragmatic approach on China, saying that he argues for dealing with the neighbouring country from a basis of "realism".
"I argue for dealing with China from a basis of realism -- that strain of realism, which I feel -- strains all the way from Sardar Patel to Narendra Modi -- that is the strain of realism which I feel should allow us to have a certain approach," said Jaishankar.
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"I would say that the Modi Government has been very much more and in conformity with a strain of realism, which originated from Sardar Patel," he said.
Explaining the difference in the approach of India's first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Patel and first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jaishankar highlighted the difference of opinion among the two stalwarts.
"It takes two hands to clap. I pose the issue in this manner if you look at the last 75 plus years of our foreign policy, they have a strain of realism about China and have a strain of idealism, romanticism, non-realism. It begins right from day one, there is a sharp difference of opinion -- how to respond to China between Nehru and Sardar Patel," said Jaishankar, while responding to a question on whether the two nations will bury the hatchet in 2024.
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Responding to this, Jairam Ramesh said every time he read statements made by the "erudite and dapper" External Affairs Minister on Nehru, he could "only recall the numerous parikramas he would make around Nehruvians for his plum postings."
"I can understand that he is a neo-convert who has to indulge in Nehru-bashing to ingratiate himself even more with the Prime Minister. But in doing so, he has lost all intellectual honesty and objectivity. He was expected to bend. He is now crawling. People with integrity are cringing. Very sad," Jairam Ramesh said.
Jaishankar, in the interview, was also asked about the "Chindia policy". Jaishankar said, "The alternative strain which starts from Nehru's China's first policy -- first let China take seat, then we will see for India. From China's first policy, it ends up as Chindia policy."
"Chindia", an idea that projects the joint rise of China and India and was promoted by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who called for constructive cooperation and competition between the Asian giants in 2014.
"You should ask the inventor of the term," Jaishankar quipped.
