Accusing the government of engaging in "rhetoric and U-turns" on the foreign policy front, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today said people are not impressed by the numerous visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi abroad and want to know about the gains.
A day after the Prime Minister castigated Congress for blocking Parliament and asked it to take a New Year resolve to allow Houses to run, Chidambaram said that Congress's opposition to government's wrong policies or poorly-drafted laws or ill-conceived schemes or acts of misconduct or misuse of government agencies cannot be termed obstructionism.
Calling Modi's "drop-in" at Lahore in Pakistan on Christmas day an "impulsive" step, the former Finance Minister said that what matters in diplomacy is coherent steps and not impulsiveness.
"I wish to make particular mention of troubled relations with Pakistan, Nepal and the Maldives. On Pakistan, more and more people are asking if the government has a clear and consistent policy at all.
"In Nepal, India seems to have lost the goodwill of all concerned - the Government of Nepal, the Madhesi parties and the people of Nepal who have suffered immense hardship over the last four months. Rhetoric, U-turns, and impulsive steps do not make a coherent foreign policy," Chidamabram said.
Noting that people of India are not impressed by the numerous visits made by the Prime Minister to foreign countries, the Congress leader said, "People have begun to ask hard questions on the gains made through these visits."
He said that when anything is overdone, there are not only diminishing returns, but it also invites ridicule as you will find from a cursory survey of the social media.
Accusing the government of "outright dismissive" approach
in engaging with Opposition, Chidambaram said the government has shown no willingness to engage with the Opposition on any important issue.
"Whether it is the conduct of foreign policy, relations with neighbouring countries, the rise of intolerance, communal violence, threats to internal security, momentous legal issues pending in Courts or charges of corruption or misconduct, the government seems to have forgotten India is a Parliamentary democracy.
"In our view, the overbearing attitude of the government is mainly responsible for the frequent disruptions in Parliament and the absence of cooperation outside Parliament," the Congress leader said.
Reminding that the Congress, and other parties, are in the Opposition, the former Finance Minister said, "The role of the Opposition in a Parliamentary democracy is well articulated in the old maxim 'to oppose, expose and depose'.
"Let me remind everyone that we have cooperated with the government in passing 67 and 45 Bills in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, during the last 19 months," he said.
Chidambaram said the onus, however, lies on the government to win the cooperation of all opposition parties and all sections of the people to take the country on the road of peace and prosperity.
