Externalaffairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday took to Twitter to challenge Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as saying that Indian politicians were “arrogant”, saying instead they were confident and defending the country’s interests.Participating in the “Ideas for India” conference in London on Friday, Gandhi said he had been told by European officials that “the Indian Foreign Service has completely changed, they are not listening, they are arrogant”. He said European officials had told him that Indian politicians were “telling us what … they got” and there was no “dialogue” between the two sides. Jaishankar said in a tweet that the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) has changed but this is about self-confidence and fighting “other people’s conflicts”.
“Yes, the Indian Foreign Service has changed. Yes, they follow the Government’s orders. Yes, they oppose the arguments of others. No, it is not called Arogance. It is called Confidence. It’s also called National Security, ”saidJaishankar, also a former IFS official who served as foreign secretary for 2015-18.Speaking at a conference in London, Gandhi described India’s democracy as “useful to the international community”. He said he had had “an enriching discussion on many different topics” at the conference.
“We are the only people in charge of democracy at our unparalleled level,” he added in a tweet.Speaking at the conference, Gandhi said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to have power because of “discrimination and total media domination”. He also pointed out that India sees attacks on institutions that have built the country.
“We are not just fighting against BJP. It is no longer a pure political war. The BJP controls the media 100%, ”said Gandhi. “Congress is fighting to get India back. It’s a war of ideas now – a war of ideas of the world. “Gandhi was joined at a rally by several opposition leaders, including SitaramYechury of CPI-M, Tejashwi Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal, and MahuaMoitra of Trinamool Congress.
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