Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to “cool a little bit” in response to the latter’s statement criticising the West over its “bad habit” of “commenting” on internal matters of other countries.
Speaking to reporters on the comment, Tharoor said he has known Jaishankar for a long time and considers him a friend. “But on this issue, I think we need not be so thin-skinned. I think it’s very important that as a government we learn to take some things in stride. If we start reacting to every comment, we are really doing ourselves a disservice,” he told ANI.
#WATCH | We need not be so thin-skinned, I think it's very important that as govt we take something in stride. If we react to every comment, we are doing ourselves a disservice. I will strongly urge EAM Jaishankar to cool a little bit: Shashi Tharoor on EAM's “West has a bad… pic.twitter.com/2DtYLWspMO— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2023
“I strongly urge my good friend Jai to cool a little bit. I think it’s one thing to say at a park full of youngsters, but when it resonates around the world, it doesn’t play very well,” he added.
Jaishankar strongly condemned the West for its “God-given right” to speak about the internal matters of other countries during a ‘Meet and Greet’ interaction organised by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan with over 500 young voters, joggers and visitors at Cubbon Park on Sunday.
In a question regarding statements made by Germany and the United States regarding the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament, the External Affairs Minister said, “It is because the West has had a bad habit for a long time of commenting on others. They somehow think it is some kind of God-given right. They will have to learn only by experience that if you keep doing this, other people will also start commenting and they will not like it when it happens. I see that happening.”
Meanwhile, Tharoor on Sunday said he would have advised his senior party colleague Digvijaya Singh against his ‘thank you Germany’ tweet after the country took note of Gandhi’s disqualification.
“The international attention – and the negative press for India – should not surprise Mr (Narendra) Modi and his government. Doubts about the democratic credentials of this government have been growing for some years, as is evident from the global media,” he told PTI.
“Still, I would have advised my highly respected senior colleague and friend not to say what he did. It has always been an article of faith for the Congress party that we do not require or accept any foreign tutelage after 200 years of subjection to colonial rule,” Tharoor stressed.
“That pride is deeply ingrained in every Indian,” he said, asserting that “we are perfectly capable of solving our own problems.”
A sessions court in Surat, Gujarat on Monday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He had filed an appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case related to his 2019 “Modi surname” remark for which he was sentenced to two years in jail.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera said it will hear his plea for suspension of conviction on April 13 after issuing a notice to complainant Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat cabinet minister.
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