External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday questioned the criticism surrounding his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Mumbai, responding to Rahul Gandhi’s description of the visit as a “summons”.
He also questioned the criticism of Mumbai as the venue for the interaction with the US official. They have something against Mumbai. It’s our financial capital. It’s our Bollywood capital. It has got so much going for it. Maybe Mumbai doesn’t like them. I have no idea. Jaishankar added that if travelling outside Delhi to meet a foreign leader or counterpart was considered a summoning, he could cite several such instances. He referred to former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s visit to Shimla to meet Pakistan’s then president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, questioning whether she too had been summoned on that occasion. He cited instances from the Congress’s own history to counter the criticism. He also mentioned former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid hosting a lunch for Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in Jaipur. “I mean, Mrs. Gandhi went to Shimla to meet Bhutto. Was she summoned? Salman Khurshid went to Jaipur to meet Pakistani. Was he summoned? “Mr Rubio has summoned his employee to Mumbai. Modi ji, your officials in the External Affairs Ministry are confused about what’s going on. You might want to explain.
The 71-year-old minister argued that travelling outside Delhi to meet foreign leaders was not unusual. Jaishankar referred to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s meeting with Pakistan’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Shimla in 1972, where the two leaders signed the Shimla Agreement.
Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, Jaishankar said he could not understand why the meeting had triggered such a reaction. “I failed to get it,” the minister said, adding, “They don’t like Mumbai. Why they have this reservation,” Jaishankar said. So, I think, look, I mean, we are adults,” Jaishankar said. Unless, of course, you want me to,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
