Congress distances itself from Ramesh’s remark

The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the remarks of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who was critical of the Home Ministry for allegedly stalling import of Chinese telecom equipment and raising security concerns.

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday distanced itself
from the remarks of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who
was critical of the Home Ministry for allegedly stalling
import of Chinese telecom equipment and raising security
concerns.

"Let the minister come back and throw light on what he has
said. He can tell whether there was any confusion about what
he said," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.

Sources in Congress admitted that there is disquiet in the
party circles over the remarks by a Congress minister against
the approach of another ministry of its own government. "It is
something that is not encouraging," a senior leader said.

"An adverse comment against the policy and functioning of
a ministry as sensitive as Home Affairs, that too in a
foreign land, cannot be justified. If there are differences of
opinion over an issue, these have to be resolved at party and
government fora," he said.

Ramesh had said in Beijing on Saturday that the "overly
defensive and alarmist" approach in the security
establishments in India, which are raising telephone tapping
concerns, will not help in sustaining the Copenhagen spirit.

He had said that India should be much more relaxed in its
approach to Chinese investments into the country and get rid
of "needless" restrictions, adding "we are imagining demons
where there are none."

Suggesting that India should be more open and receptive to
investments and technology from the neighbouring country,
Ramesh said the spirit of cooperation evolved at Copenhagen
between the prime ministers of the two Asian giants should be
taken forward.

Ramesh had made the remarks in the context of recent
reports that India had barred import of telecom equipment from
major Chinese firm Huawei, especially in the border areas
following security concerns.

Home Secretary G K Pillai has, however, rubbished reports
of a bias against China, saying there was no discrimination
from the government`s side and it was wrong to say that the
security establishment was biased against the Chinese.

PTI

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