Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj eloquently defeated the Opposition's efforts to corner the Narendra Modi government on foreign policy by giving a point-by-point rebuttal over issues like India's ongoing military standoff with China and New Delhi's relations with Islamabad.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Swaraj spoke on Doklam (near Sikkim) where Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a face-off since mid-June, and said China was a big economic partner and asserted that New Delhi's roadmap with Beijing is peace that can be achieved through patience and fortitude.
"War was not the answer for any dispute... We are engaged with China not only on Doklam but on several other important issues of economic and strategic affairs," Swaraj said, replying at the end of a short-duration discussion on India's foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners.
She reminded Congress leader Anand Sharma that unlike Atal Behari Vajpayee who wrote a letter in 1962 to Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss India's standoff with China, something the then PM agreed to, the Opposition, including the Congress, did not make any such efforts on Doklam.
"I am saddened that the leader of Congress in an attempt to know about India-China stand-off didn't ask the government of India, but chose to meet the Chinese Ambassador," she said without naming Rahul Gandhi.
Decrying Opposition's efforts to create a wedge between her and PM Modi by praising her alone, Swaraj said, "Before our government came to power, foreign policy was exclusively under the PMO's domain, but I've got such a great PM that he discusses it with me before taking any policy decision."
Countering the Opposition's charge that PM Modi never takes her on key foreign trips, she asked Manmohan Singh point blank, "How many times you took SM Krishna or Salman Khurshid with you during foreign trips?"
She said that it was because of PM Modi's telephone talk with the Saudi King that India got a breather of two hours every day from bombing between 9 pm and 11 pm which made possible the rescue of 4,700 Indians and 2,000 foreigners from Yemen.
PM Modi is the one who is setting the global agenda whether it is International Solar Alliance or inserting a poverty alleviation clause in the Sustainable Development Goals, Swaraj said.
Replying to CPM leader Sitaram Yechury's charge on leaving Palestine at the cost of friendship with Israel that would prove counter-productive for India, Swaraj said, "Israel is our friend but we will not let down Palestine's cause." Praising Modi's initiative to go to Israel on the completion of the 25th anniversary of friendship started by former PM Narsimha Rao, Swaraj said even President Abbas of Palestine told us to sort out their problem with Israel through our good offices.
Swaraj slammed Congress leader Rajiv Shukla for his comment that India should join China's OBOR (One Belt One Road) infrastructure initiative when all its neighbours have joined it. "This is a matter of Indian sovereignty, we cannot allow China and Pakistan to build a road corridor through POK," she said.
"Shukla must understand that PoK is part of India, this is the stated position of India, how can he speak like this," she said taking on Congress leaders for speaking in two voices on such a sensitive issue.
This forced Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to call Shukla's comment as an individual opinion and not the party's stand.
On relations with Pakistan, Swaraj emphasised that India always reached out with a hand of friendship and it was entirely because of the Pathankot terror attack that the situation became sore but because of then PM Nawaz Sharif's remark calling Burhan Wani a martyr.
"Terror and talks cannot go together. This is our road map," she said claiming that both the US and Russia are with India on this issue.
In a statement on Doklam, Swaraj said India's concerns emanate from Chinese action on the ground which has implications for the determination of the tri-junction boundary point between India, China and Bhutan and the alignment of India-China boundary in the Sikkim sector.
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