Congress alleges Sushma Swaraj misled House, gives notice for privilege motion in RS

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday gave a notice to move a privilege motion in the Rajya Sabha against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj alleging that she misled the House on August 3 while replying to a debate on India's foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners. Congress members Ambika Soni, Vivek Tankha, Pratap Bajwa, Rajen Gohain, Rajeev Gowda and others alleged that in her reply to a short-duration discussion, Swaraj denied that any speech or statement was made by any representative of the government at 60th anniversary of Bandung conference. She also informed the House that none of the members of the Indian delegation was given an opportunity to deliver a speech on the occasion, which the Congress members are objecting to dubbing it as "false". "We hereby give notice of our intention to move a privilege motion under Rule 188 of the Rules and Procedures and Conduct of Business on false and misleading statement given by Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs on August 3, 2017 during reply to Short Duration Discussion on 'India's Foreign Policy and Engagement with Strategic Partners'," the notice said. "We are shocked at the blatantly false and misleading statement given by the Minister for External Affairs on the floor of the House wherein the matter was discussed after giving due notice of short duration discussion which the minister was also very keen to discuss and reply to. "It is also a matter of shame that during the reply, the minister said that Bangdung Conference is different from Asian African Conference whereas the fact is that Asian African Conference is popularly known as Bangdung Conference," the privilege motion filed before RS Secretary General said. During the debate on Thursday, Anand Sharma pointed out to Swaraj in the House that Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh had given a speech in Bangdung on the 60th anniversary but she completely denied that. TMC MP Derek O'Brien then stated that speeches were made by the minister of external affairs and the MoS on the occasion but she again denied stating that the speeches were delivered at some other conference a day before but not at the 60th anniversary event. Swaraj's speech at 60th Asian African Conference (also known as Bangdung Conference) is available on the Ministry of External Affairs website and the Congress has attached the same in its notice. Highlights of Sushma Swaraj's speech in Rajya Sabha

• A combative External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday asserted in the Rajya Sabha that the country's foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so strong that India was setting the world agenda.
• Replying to a discussion on 'India's foreign policy and engagement with strategic partners', she answered point-by- point the questions raised and concerns voiced by the Opposition parties, mainly targeting the congress.
• She said the "concerns" voiced by the Congress regarding Chinese involvement in construction of Gwadar port in pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka were "born" during the previous UPA rule and the present government was settling these.
• She also rejected the Opposition contention that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not taking her into consideration with regard to the foreign policy.
• "You say that India stands alone. This is far from the truth... All countries are with India... What I am saying is with evidence," she told the opposition.
• Swaraj said it was due to the success of the new foreign policy that both the US and Russia are with India and so are israel and Palestine as also Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Germany, France, European Union, United Kingdom are also friends and so is the UAE, she added.
• "India's foreign policy is so good now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is setting the global agenda on the world stage," she said and cited example of how he played a crucial role at the Paris Climate Summit and at G-20 or other world fora.
• "The opinion formed by the Opposition in the House that all our neighbours have turned against us is far away from the truth," Swaraj asserted.
• "It is not a fact that all our neighbouring countries are against us. Whenever there is a crisis in any neighbouring country, they look up to India and we are the first to respond to them," she said.
• Swaraj hit out at the opposition saying that the concerns raised now over Chinese transgressions, Gwadar and Hambantota are all born during the time when Congress was in power.
• In a series of posers to the Congress, she said, "Hambantota's first phase was started in 2008. Whose governnent was there at that time? The first phase got completed in 2011. Whose government was then? Gwadar happened during whose government?
• "Today, you are expressing concern. Why did you not express concerns in 2011 or 2013? You are the ones who gave birth to all these concerns. These concerns were born during your time. We only secured Hambantota. We addressed concern that arose during your time," she said.
• Asserting that India under the Modi government has been helpful and reaching out to its neighbours, she gave examples.
• When water crisis hit maldives, India sent a plane carrying water within 90 minutes after she got the first call at 7 in the morning, Swaraj said.
• She said when there was an earthquake in Nepal, India was the first responder, besides helping in Sri Lanka floods.
• She said India committed one billion US dollars for the DONER conference, even though they were looking at China.
• Blasting the Congress for saying that India's relations with its neighbours had deteriorated, she said that for 17 years, no Indian PM had visited Nepal which included the UPA tenure.
• Tauntingly, she said, "When no Indian Prime Minister goes to Nepal, then the relations are good? But when Indian Prime Minister goes twice, then relations are bad?,"
• On the blockade with Nepal about two years back, she said such a situation had been seen even during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure. She said if Bangladesh and bhutan had best ties with anyone, it was India.
• The External Affairs Minister lauded former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for his foreign policy initiatives, but said "while Nehru built and enhanced his personal image, Prime Minister Modi is enhancing the entire country's image through his initiatives."
• Rejecting the opposition charge that PMO is running the Foreign policy and she was not made to accompany the prime minister, she asked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as to how many times he had taken on foreign tours along with him his foreign ministers S M Krishna or Salman Khurshid.
• Swaraj said the Prime Minister always conuslt her on all foreign policy issues and charged that it was PMO driven in the previous government.