It started in his great grandfather's time: Natwar Singh on Rahul Gandhi's China-Pakistan remark

New Delhi, Feb 3: Former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh on Thursday slammed Rahul Gandhi over his comments that the BJP-government's policy has brought China-Pakistan closer while reminding him that his great grandfather (first PM Jawaharlal Nehru) took the Kashmir issue to United Nations.

'I am surprised that nobody from the government side got up to remind Rahul Gandhi that what he has said is not completely accurate because China and Pakistan have been close allies since the 60s," news agency ANI quoted Singh, who was the Foreign Minister during UPA's tenure in 2004 when Manmohan Singh was the PM, as saying.

90-year-old Singh criticised Rahul Gandhi's ignorance and said, "It started in his great grandfather's time (first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru). His great grandfather took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and it is still there. His great grandfather had put so much faith in China that we were not prepared when the Chinese attacked us. These are historical facts and nobody is making them up."

Singh disagreed with Rahul Gandhi's remarks on India being isolated by neighbours and hailed External Minister S Jaishankar for his response to Gandhi's comments. "We are not isolated. We have good relations with our neighbours and our foreign policy is not a failure. We have a foreign minister who has spent all his life dealing with foreign policy. Our foreign minister was well informed and I am glad he replied to what Rahul Gandhi said yesterday," he said.

According to the former Congress leader, India has the capability to give a befitting reply to attacks from Pakistan and China and "if they think of attacking India it will lead to very serious consequences".

"They (China and Pakistan) have built roads near their borders and they are perfectly entitled to. But at the moment, they also know that if they were to attack us, it will lead to very serious consequences because we are not as weak as we were in 1962. They tried in the Ladakh area and the Indian Army pushed them back. So, it's simple, I don't see that security threat to India. We should be prepared and we are prepared," Singh further added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government and said that it has brought China and Pakistan together.

He said, "The single biggest strategic goal of India's foreign policy has been to keep Pakistan and China separate. You have brought Pakistan and China together. This is the single biggest crime that you could commit against the people of India."