Senior Congress chief Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday hit out at exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar for his feedback on Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, accusing him of indulging in Nehru-bashing to achieve favour with the present Prime Minister.

“Every time I read statements made by the erudite and dapper External Affairs Minister on Nehru, I can only recall the numerous parikramas he would make around Nehruvians for his plum postings,” mentioned Ramesh in a social media submit on X.

“I can understand that he is a neo-convert who has to indulge in Nehru-bashing to ingratiate himself even more with the Prime Minister. But in doing so, he has lost all intellectual honesty and objectivity. He was expected to bend. He is now crawling. People with integrity are cringing. Very sad.”

The criticism from Jairam Ramesh is available in response to an interview Jaishankar gave to ANI, the place he mentioned India’s method to participating with China. Jaishankar advocated for a sensible method, aligning with the pressure of realism that he believes extends from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to Narendra Modi.

Jaishankar underlined the distinction within the approaches of Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, significantly relating to the UN Security Council seat, saying Nehru’s stance prioritised China’s pursuits, which he discovered peculiar.

“Even when it came, for example to the UN Security Council seat, it’s not my case that we should have necessarily taken the seat, it’s a different debate, but to say that we should first let China — China’s interest should come first, it’s a very peculiar statement to make,” mentioned Jaishankar whereas coping with the method of Nehru and Sardar Patel’s realism.

When requested whether or not the 2 nations will bury the hatchet in 2024, the exterior affairs minister mentioned, “It takes two hands to clap. I pose the issue in this manner if you look at the last 75 plus years of our foreign policy, they have a strain of realism about China and have a strain of idealism, romanticism, non-realism. It begins right from day one, there is a sharp difference of opinion — how to respond to China between Nehru and Sardar Patel.”

(With ANI inputs)