Delhi blast: Cong's Salman Khurshid seeks PM's answer in Parliament on 'lapse'
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New Delhi (PTI): Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said the Delhi blast has put a "very serious question mark" on the government's security policy and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should soon answer in Parliament on the "lapse".
The former external Affairs minister also alleged that "strategic failures" are now writ large as far as the Modi government is concerned.
In an interview with PTI, Khurshid called for a steady foreign policy instead of a "personalised" and "episodic" one playing out currently.
"We should have a steady foreign policy. I don't think we have a steady foreign policy, we have a sporadic, episodic, personalised, aberrational foreign policy. This is not foreign policy (at all)," he said while talking about the recently-published book "India's Tryst with the World: A Foreign Policy Manifesto" that has been edited by him and Salil Shetty and contains an article by former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Asked about the Congress' assertion calling on the government to clear its stance on the 'new normal doctrine' which stated that any future terror attack after Pahalgam would be treated as an act of war, Khurshid said, "We are not jingoists but we believe that the country needs the best attention of the people that command attention in the country, which means the government and the opposition."
"We are startled about what has happened near the Red Fort and its connections with other parts of the country. In all these days there is not a single clear statement that has come from the government, saying two things: how did this intelligence failure happen and what are its implications particularly in light of what it has been saying in the past," the chairperson of the Congress' foreign affairs department said.
"For people who turn around and say to the Congress -- 'why are you not pushing the government enough?' Frankly if there is a crisis of confidence, or of strategic nature etc., we owe it to the country and to the people that we let the government take the best decisions possible and then come out clearly in its support but a government that is not willing to trust people and trust the opposition, what do you expect of that government," Khurshid asked.
"I could take a whole hour to talk about strategic and intelligence failures. I think this is a very serious question mark on this government's security policy," he said of the blast.
Talking about the demands of the Congress on the issue, Khurshid said his party has made it clear that "let's get into Parliament quickly".
"In a responsible way, in a responsible place, let us talk about what is happening and why it is happening again and again despite all the profound statements made by this government," he said.
Asked if the party is demanding that the prime minister should answer on the issue on the floor of the House, Khurshid said, "Should he not?"
Pressed if that is the demand of the party, he answered in the affirmative and said "absolutely".
"We should get to the House as quickly as possible to talk about why a security lapse of this nature (took place) and then see how the country can go forward together. These are challenges that have to be fought together, these challenges that cannot be fought on our party lines," Khurshid said.
His remarks come days after the Congress demanded that Modi should immediately chair an all-party meeting on the Delhi blast incident. The opposition party also asked whether the "new normal doctrine" defined by the government following the Pahalgam attack stands.
The Congress has also demanded that the Winter Session of Parliament, scheduled to start on December 1, be advanced so that there could be a debate on the incident.
Last week, a high-intensity blast ripped through a car near Red Fort in Delhi, killing 13 people and injuring several others, hours after the busting of a "white collar terror module" and the arrest of eight people, including three doctors.
Talking about the pitfalls of a personalised foreign policy, Khurshid said if the personal relations falter then the entire edifice of the foreign relations falls.
"I think India and most countries have had projections of their top leadership as the face of their foreign policy. (Jawaharlal) Nehru ji was the face of foreign policy undoubtedly, Rajiv Gandhi was the face of foreign policy, Manmohan Singh was the face of foreign policy and I assume that was true also of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But foreign policy was more than the face, foreign policy was the edifice and the base that was built by that face," he said.
Foreign policy involved an enormous amount of conflict resolution ability by being friends and sharing aspirations which India did with many countries of the world, he said.
"I think that is not there today and it is all transactional, it is 'I hug you, you hug me'...America is a clear example of that. Look at the relationship we were supposed to have with the US. Look at what President Donald Trump has continued to say about the friendship that he owes to Prime Minister Modi and look at what America is doing to India," he said.
Khurshid also slammed the government for its policy on the Palestine-Israel issue.
"The kind of support India had been associated with in terms of freedom of Palestine is something we did not see," he said.
"We (the Congress) have clearly said that there are certain positions taken by certain elements in Gaza and Palestine that we cannot empathise with but for the people of Palestine and Gaza and the kind of treatment women and children of Gaza have received at the hands of military powers is unacceptable," he said.
Khurshid said the Congress has been clear about supporting the government when it comes to strategic matters. But "we need to be in the loop and consulted," he added.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
