Himanta Biswa Sarma condemns Rahul Gandhi's statements, says ‘Nehru left us to be with Pakistan’

|HT|

After foreign minister S Jaishankar lambasted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech at the Cambridge University, Union minister Kiren Rijiju and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tore into Rahul Gandhi's statements. Taking to Twitter, Himanta Biswa Sarma said Rahul Gandhi's statement that 'UP, Maharashtra, Assam, Tamil Nadu created a negotiated peace' with India is wrong. "With Gandhiji's support, Gopinath Bordoloi had to struggle to keep Assam with Bharat Mata since Nehru left us to be with Pakistan as per Cabinet Mission Plan. Get your facts right, Mr Gandhi," former Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said calling Rahul Gandhi's speech the 'height of fake intellectualism'. Here's what Rahul Gandhi said regarding Assam: "India did not develop top-down. It almost emerged bottom-up. And all these states - UP, Maharashtra, Assam, Tamil Nadu - they all got together and created a negotiated peace, let us say. From this union of states, which required a conversation, emerged the instrument of that conversation -- the Constitution, the idea that one man will have one vote, the election system, the democratic system, the Election Commission, the IITs, the IIMs.." Slamming Rahul Gandhi's comment that the Indian Foreign Service has become arrogant, Union minister Kiren Rijiju claimed in the Congressi style functioning, "diplomats were busy fixing colleges for grandkids of Pandit Nehru". The minister shared screenshots of Twitter user Aryan D'Rozario who claimed his great grandfather had recommended Trinity College, Cambridge for Rajiv Gandhi. The Twitter user had also shared a purported letter written by diplomat TN Kaul, which said: "Dr Rozario may kindly advise in detail urgently as to which would be the best course to follow in the circumstances and which college would be best for Rajiv to study at Cambridge." The original tweet has been deleted. "I just can't comprehend, what kind of sadistic pleasure one gets by demeaning and attacking own Country in a foreign land?" Rijiju tweeted. Rahul Gandhi's speech in which he spoke about several issues including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has come at the centre of controversies with foreign minister S Jaishankar criticising it leading to an exchange of barbs between the BJP and the Congress. While the foreign minister said what Rahul Gandhi described as 'arrogance' of Indian diplomats is actually 'confidence'. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala countered and said, "Yes, it is also called being subservient to the political masters in face of foreign policy bloopers." Congress leader Salman Khurshid said he was present at the event where Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of the Indian Foreign Service. "On theme of dialogue he flagged European civil servants’ comment. EAM reacted that our diplomats follow government policy. But so they must have when he served in IFS. Listen, absorb and respond is RG’s theme," Salman Khurshid tweeted.

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