New Delhi, May 10 (Inditop.com) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress party Monday joined the opposition to rebuke Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for criticising India’s policy towards Chinese companies over the weekend in Beijing.
In a rare intervention of its kind, the prime minister telephoned Ramesh while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded his sacking for his remarks critical of the home ministry’s policy towards Chinese companies.
The prime minister made it clear to Ramesh, who has courted similar controversies in the past, not to comment on the functioning of ministries outside his domain.
The prime minister conveyed his displeasure to Ramesh, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) told IANS. Ramesh was told there should not be any confusion over New Delhi’s policies vis-a-vis Beijing.
A chastened Ramesh refused to talk to journalists after returning to New Delhi.
Ramesh created a flutter when he said in Beijing Saturday that the policies of the Indian home ministry and security establishment towards Chinese companies were “alarmist and paranoid”.
In Beijing to attend a global meet on climate change, he said there was danger that cooperation with China flowing from the Copenhagen spirit would not last long unless New Delhi changed “a needlessly restrictive, alarmist approach” to Chinese investment in infrastructure.
“The suspicious attitude of the security establishment is spoiling the bonhomie between the (countries), created as a result of close collaboration on international negotiations on climate change,” he had said.
Soon afterwards, the Congress admonished Ramesh.
“Congress wants to make it clear that commenting on departments that are not in a minister’s domain is not at all appropriate. It should not be done under any circumstances on foreign soil,” party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters here.
He said there were fora within the government and party for individual leaders to air their views.
The Congress rebuke came after the BJP blasted Ramesh.
“His remarks are unbecoming of a minister. The government should take action. We expect the prime minister to act,” said BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar.
He said some lobbyists had penetrated the government and that the minister’s rationale for questioning government policy towards Chinese companies was flimsy.
“This is not acceptable… China is known for hacking sensitive data. The home ministry has rightly issued the guidelines,” he said.
Javadekar said the prime minister should clarify the rules of allocation of business, the duty of a minister on foreign soil and what would be done on Ramesh’s remarks.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) said Ramesh should have been “more cautious and more diplomatic” in airing his views on the need for Chinese investment in the country.
But CPI national council secretary Shameem Faizee said his party was not demanding his resignation.
Ramesh’s remarks have come soon after Congress leader Digvijay Singh embarassed the government and the party by criticising Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s anti-Maoist policy.
Ramesh has also had differences with Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath over environmental clearances to road projects.
