“Trivialising everything just to get a couple of votes, that's not foreign policy. Mr. Narendra Modi might call it foreign policy, that's not foreign policy.”
Speaking with The Quint, Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “bowing” to China on Doklam, Pakistan, his interference with the airstrikes in Balakot and politicising surgical strikes for electoral gains.
As curtains draw on a marathon Lok Sabha Elections 2019, Rahul Gandhi answered a range of questions, including on foreign policy, by The Quint’s Editor-in-chief, Raghav Bahl and Editorial director, Sanjay Pugalia.
On the sidelines of his last campaign trail in the quaint mountain town of Solan, Himachal Pradesh, Gandhi accused PM Modi of “taking away foreign policy from experts” as well as imposing his decisions on the foreign policy establishment instead of working alongside it.
Reiterating former PM Manmohan Singh’s words, Gandhi said that six surgical strikes were conducted during the UPA era but the government did not speak about them because it was a strategic action.
On Modi’s Radar Comment
PM Modi, in an interview to the News Nation channel, on 11 May, had said that he urged the Air Force to go ahead with Balakot strikes despite heavy rainfall because the clouds could allow the Indian fighter planes to escape Pakistan’s radars. The statement about clouds benefiting India’s mission drew heavy criticism.
Gandhi, accusing Modi of undermining foreign policy experts as well as the armed forces exclaimed, “I mean he is telling the Air Force people, he is giving the Air Force people advice that we should not delay the strike because clouds will protect our plane from the radar ?”
“Mr. Narendra Modi, radar is designed to see planes,” Gandhi said.
“Please go and read up a little about modern radar or walk to the frontier plane and have a chat with the pilots they will tell you what's going on,” he added.
“So, he has taken strategy and made it into a circus. Strategic thinking, strategic action are not circuses. Strategic actions are done after thinking and a whole bunch of strategic action is not spoken about ever. So, we did not speak about surgical strikes.”Rahul Gandhi to The Quint
‘We did Six Surgical Strikes”
In response to a question on muscular foreign policy in India under the Modi government, the Congress president said that they “did six surgical strikes” but Manmohan Singh did not do it by himself.
Emphasising the collaborative nature of strategic actions he added that former PM Manmohan Singh, the Army and the strategic architecture of India did it together.
“So, he has taken strategy and made it into a circus. Strategic thinking, strategic action are not circuses. Strategic actions are done after thinking and a whole bunch of strategic action is not spoken about ever. So, we did not speak about surgical strikes.”Rahul Gandhi
‘Complete Submission’ to China
Gandhi launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and his policies regarding China, especially regarding the Doklam stand-off in 2017.
Accusing the PM of bowing to China during his visit to Wuhan in 2018, Gandhi said that “Mr. Narendra panicked, buckled went there and had a conversation with no agenda” on a “massive issue called Doklam”.
According to Gandhi, the Chinese had sent a “crystal clear” message to India through the Doklam stand-off:
“What’s happened is Narendra Modi was given a clear message by China in Doklam and he went to China and bowed in front of them. The Chinese were absolutely crystal clear they sent a message to Mr. Narendra Modi in Doklam and Mr. Narendra panicked, buckled, went there and had a conversation with no agenda. When there is a massive issue called Doklam, no agenda. That is complete submission.”Rahul Gandhi
Neither Left Nor Right, India Must Stand Tall
Asked if the bombing inside Pakistan’s territory had escalated foreign policy to a new threshold, one that was removed from Congress’s stance of strategic restraint, Gandhi said that “the foreign policy challenges in the 21st century are pretty clear.”
At a time when there are two poles of power – United States on one side and an emerging superpower, China, on the other – India must stand with them as an equal and not as “subservient”.
Asked if India is poised for a greater realignment with one of the two poles, Gandhi, offering a cryptic reply, said “a political leader was once asked, ‘Does India lean left or lean right and she said India stands tall’”.
“There is confusion in Europe, there is fragmentation taking place in Europe and India has to understand and accept that it has a global role,” he added.
However, Gandhi tempered his optimism for India’s global role with caution and suggested that the nation must also understand areas where it is not as strong.
“It’s a huge moment for the Indian nation but India has to realise where its strengths lie and where it is not strong. It cannot do what Narendra Modi does which is, not rely on the strategic understanding and strength of India. That is true power, that is true understanding.”Rahul Gandhi to The Quint
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