Congress today said Home Minister Rajnath Singh was "insulted" by Pakistan at the just-concluded SAARC meet there, and came down hard on the Narendra Modi- government for allowing it to happen.
"Such an insult had never been heaped on the Indian Home Minister in any bilateral or multilateral fora. It is a result of the flip-flops, U-turns and zigzag in India's Pakistan policy which has never seen in the past 70 years," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
Noting that Congress was "angry and saddened" by the manner in which the Indian Home Minister was treated, he said it showed that India's foreign policy and, especially Pakistan policy, is "lying in tatters".
The government has to be held accountable and it should share the blame, he said.
"India's foreign policy is lying in tatters. We had no business to put ourselves in such positions where we can be embarrassed," he said, wondering why were no guarantees sought by the Indian government before the Home Minister visited Pakistan.
Singhvi contended that there have been SAARC meetings earlier as also the shadow of terrorism, "but never before have we seen such type of insult against India".
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the meeting said that Kashmir was witnessing a new wave of freedom movement, Singhvi said insisting that "never before had the Pakistan government dared talk like this".
Tearing into the government's Pakistan policy, he said Pakistan routinely insults India, and the Modi government rolls out the "red carpet", first for the Pakistan Prime Minister and then for the ISI as was witnessed after the Pathankot terror attack.
"Never before has the Home Minister been insulted like this. The question is, why was he allowed to be mistreated like this?" he said expressing shock that there were terror groups which were "openly abusing and mocking" India while the Home Minister was in Pakistan.
Wondering as to why has Modi government not moved beyond the sari-shawl diplomacy, he said there is "huge difference" between the "pretended bonhomie" when the Pakistan PM had come for Modi's swearing in and the just concluded SAARC meet.
Singhvi was also critical of certain statements of the External Affairs Ministry when the Home Minister went to Pakistan saying that it should have kept quiet. "The whole thing shows that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing in this government".
He noted that when Rajnath flew to Pakistan, he was received by Director General of SAARC, which was against the protocol. When Chidambaram had gone there as Home Minister, his Pakistan counterpart Abdul Rahman Malik had received him, he said.
Singhvi reminded the government that Bangladesh Home Minister had not gone to the SAARC meet despite the fact that their ties with Islamabad were "far better" than that of India.
