New Delhi, July 14 (UNI) Undeterred by his suspension from the Congress party, former Union Minister and diplomat-turned-politician Mani Shankar Aiyar on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy, especially towards neighbourhood including Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal.
He also charged Prime Minister with interfering in the internal matters of Nepal and compared
Mr Modi with two British viceroys Lord Louis Mountbatten and Lord George Curzon.
Mr Aiyar said there were problems in India's relations with Nepal and maintained that under the Modi government the situation has actually turned "heart breaking".
He said Prime Minister Modi in fact tried "gross interference in internal matters of Nepal" when he planned to address a rally and distribute bicycles in Janakpur in 2014.
Mr Modi's alleged move to advise Nepalese leadership on their constitutional amendment was like "Lord Mountbatten arriving in India on January 24, 1950".
"There was fury ....it was described as if Lord Curzon has returned," he accused.
"Modi's neighbourhood policy has not been a disaster only in Pakistan.... it has been a total
disaster everywhere else as well. Pakistan is the large block in this disastrous
neighbourhood policy of a Republic of Hate and Arrogance," Mr Aiyar said at a seminar
here organised to release a review on the functioning of Modi government titled 'Dismantling
India - A Four Year Report'.
He also said there is much of a "delusion of grandeur" in the foreign policy of the Modi
government and its conduct vis-a-vis South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Nepal and Maldives.
He accused that the country's foreign policy has been based on "religious prejudices".
"The delusion of grandeur connived with bias," he remarked and maintained that
the foreign policy has faltered on many fronts.
"We were very close to Maldives," said Mr Aiyar, who had also served as India's first
consul-general in Karachi in 1970s, and added: but today India has "lost all the influence"
in that island nation.
"Even small projects we were running there are being rejected," he said adding on the contrary,
the Chinese influence has increased manifold.
Similarly, former Minister claimed the NDA government's policy was also on erroneous path
in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
On Bangladesh, he referred to the National Register of Citizens row in Assam and questioned
the wisdom of BJP campaign that India is the "natural home of the Hindus".
Talking about Bhutan, Mr Aiyar said the Himalayan nation was the "best friend India ever had"
but - besides "the fright we gave them over Doklam", he said Indian government's move to reduce
power production in that country to help Bhutanese along with higher lending rate - has now forced that country to have "serious rethink" about its relation with New Delhi.
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