Disrespectful colloquialism: Jaishankar hits back at Mike Pompeo for comments on Sushma Swaraj
India and Pakistan were on the brink of a nuclear war following the Balakot air strike, which India carried out to avenge the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 braves lost their lives
New Delhi, Jan 25: Reacting to the comment of former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo that he never considered Sushma Swaraj as an important player, India's External Affairs Minister, Dr. S Jaishankar hit back at the disrespect.
Mike Pompeo's book, Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love is also in the news for an explosive claim that India and Pakistan were on the brink of a nuclear war after the Balakot strike carried out by India to avenge the Pulwama attack.
Pompeo according to news agency PTI mentions in his book both Jaishankar and National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval. Those mentions come with aspersions against Sushma Swaraj who was India's foreign minister. "On the Indian side, my original counterpart was not an important player on the Indian foreign policy team. Instead, I worked much more closely with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a close and trusted confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Pompeo wrote. He even went on to describe Sushma Swaraj as a goof-ball and heartland political hack.
Referring to Jaishankar as 'J' Pompeo wrote, "my second Indian counterpart was Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. In May 2019, we welcomed "J" as India's new foreign minister. I could not have asked for a better counterpart. I love this guy. English is one of the seven languages he speaks, and his is somewhat better than mine."
Reacting strongly to the remarks made in the book,, Jaishankar said,'I have seen a passage in Secretary Pompeo's book referring to Smt Sushma Swaraj ji. I always held her in great esteem and had an exceptionally close and warm relationship with her. I deplore the disrespectful colloquialism used for her."
Pompeo claimed that he was told by his then Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj that Pakistan was gearing up for a nuclear attack following the Balakot air strike in February 2019.
He
was
also
told
that
India
was
preparing
its
own
escalatory
response.
The
remarks
were
made
in
his
latest
book,
Never
Give
an
Inch:
Fighting
for
America
I
Love.
The
book
hit
the
stores
on
January
24.
Jaishankar hails Vajpayee's handling of diplomatic situation post 1998 nuclear tests
He said that he was in Hanoi for the US-North Korea Summit. His staff spent the night dialling both New Delhi and Islamabad to defuse the crisis.
Pompeo further wrote, I do not think the world properly knowns just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019. The truth is, I do not know precisely the answer either. I just know it was too close, he said.