The BJP on Thursday lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "weak" and saying that he is scared of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A day after China blocked a proposal at the United Nations Security Council to declare JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, Rahul Gandhi said "Weak Modi is scared of Xi. Not a word comes out of his mouth when China acts against India. NoMo's China Diplomacy: Swing with Xi in Gujarat, Hug Xi in Delhi and Bow to Xi in China."
Referring to Rahul's tweet, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing the media asked, "Why is Rahul Gandhi in a celebratory mood when the country stands pained in this kind of move by China."
Prasad, reacting to the charges, said Rahul should have used his proximity with China to influence its decision to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist.
"You enjoy a very close relationship with China. If you have such good relations with China at least you could have used that proximity to persuade China to allow the resolution," Prasad suggested.
Prasad also took a jibe at Rahul by saying that he has forgotten that China had blocked Masood Azhar's listing as global terrorist once in 2009 when the Congress was in power. "Rahul has forgotten that China had blocked Masood Azhar's listing as global terrorist once in 2009 when the Congress was in power."
Prasad added, "The BJP would like to highlight today that would the Congress party adopt a different voice even in case of a cruel killer and a global terrorist like Masood Azhar?"
Referring to Rahul's tweet, the BJP leader said that Rahul needed to learn that foreign policy was not run on Twitter as it is a serious and sensitive subject.
"Mr Rahul Gandhi as per your own utterances you enjoy a close relationship with China. You visited the Chinese embassy when Doklam tension was high. When you went to Mansarovar you publically claimed that Chinese people were keen to see you off, permission denied by the Government of India. When you went to Mansarovar you publically said that you are in touch with the many ministers. So, if you are so much close to Chinese establishments, then you could have used that proximity to persuade China to take a stand against Masood Azhar. Why you did not?" he added.
For the fourth time in the last ten years, China on Wednesday blocked a proposal by the US, the UK and France, among others, to enlist Pakistan-based Azhar as a global terrorist.
India expressed disappointment over the development but vowed to continue to pursue "all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens" are brought to justice.
"The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee (1267 Sanctions Committee), upon completion of the no-objection period on 13 March 2019, was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi under the UN Sanctions regime, on account of a member placing the proposal on hold," said a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry.
The statement did not identify the "member" of the UNSC which put the proposal on hold but sources said it was China.
"We are disappointed by this outcome. This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a prescribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February 2019," the MEA statement said.
"We are grateful for the efforts of the Member States who moved the designation proposal and the unprecedented number of all other Security Council members as well as non-members who joined as co-sponsors," it added.
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