Congress criticises Centre’s West Asia policy
New Delhi: Congress on Monday expressed grave concern over External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s parliamentary statement, describing it as “vapid” and inadequate in addressing India’s strategic challenges in West Asia.
Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, on behalf of the party’s Foreign Affairs Department, said the External Affairs Minister has failed to register any protest against the sinking of IRIS Dena in India’s strategic backyard, a development that compromises India’s role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region.
The party also noted that the statement did not condemn the targeted killing of the head of state of a sovereign nation, nor did it offer solutions to mitigate the serious geo-economic and geopolitical costs India is bearing, or the escalations it may face.
The Congress pointed out that the EAM’s statement lacked concrete proposals to safeguard India’s strategic investments and bilateral trade in crude oil, basmati rice, urea, and fertilisers, as well as measures to protect the nine million Indians living in West Asia.
The party further criticised the absence of any roadmap to diversify India’s energy security needs or reassert energy sovereignty, which it said is currently being dictated by foreign powers offering only a 30-day OFAC waiver.
The statement also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “ill-advised endorsement of the war” through his recent trip, arguing that it has contributed to the perception that India is abdicating moral leadership of the Global South, ironically in a year when India chairs BRICS.
The Congress alleged that the Prime Minister’s actions have made India appear complicit in dismantling the rules-based global order.
The party said that the External Affairs Minister’s remarks were “bereft of any laser-eyed insights into the paradigm global shift underway” and failed to present a structured vision for India to navigate global disruptions or defend its values and interests in an increasingly unstable world.
The party went on to assert that Prime Minister Modi’s foreign policy “misadventurism,” coupled with what it described as the BJP government’s undermining of the Indian Foreign Service, is pushing India into “vassalage” and circumscribing the bipartisan strategic and diplomatic achievements since independence.
The statement was formally issued by the Foreign Affairs Department of the Congress.