External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday targeted Jawaharlal Nehru. He claimed that past mistakes were responsible for the problems such as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and occupation of some parts of the Indian territory by China.
Jaishankar made the remarks during an address at the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ahmedabad.
He further revealed how Sardar Patel warned PM Nehru of a threat from China.
The EAM said the latter played down his concerns and, instead, advocated a permanent seat at the UNSC for China.
Jaishankar said, “In 1950, there was an exchange of views between Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. Sardar Patel had warned Nehru about China. He said that today, we are facing a situation of two fronts (Pakistan and China) which for India has never happened in our history before.”
“Today we are talking of India first. There was a time when the PM of India talked about China first,” the External Affairs Minister said.
Jaishankar also weighed in on Sardar Patel’s position of not taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations. He said that the Centre, over the last decade, has been dealing with many issues inherited from the past.
Jaishankar said, “Today, when we talk about our boundaries, our territories, some say rewrite our boundaries. Our boundaries are still our boundaries. We should never ever doubt that. But our problem today is what happened in the past.”
“In the last ten years, the Union government has tried to deal with many issues inherited from the past, it has been successful in finding solutions to some of them while some issues will take more time,” the EAM added.
#WATCH | Gujarat: Speaking at the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ahmedabad, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar says, "…In 1950, there was an exchange of views between Sardar Patel and (Jawaharlal) Nehru… Sardar Patel had warned Jawaharlal Nehru about… pic.twitter.com/vNIFj2uNnz
— ANI (@ANI) April 3, 2024
Earlier on 1 Jan 1948, India decided to take the Kashmir issue to the UN.
India raised a point of contention at the world body over Pakistani infiltrators occupying parts of Jammu and Kashmir that had legally acceded to India.
