New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday condemned the vandalism at the ancestral house of Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh and demanded a special session of Parliament in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue along with that of US invitation to Pakistan Army Chief to attend the 250th anniversary of US Army.
"There are two incidents on the international stage which are extremely worrying for us. US Centcom Commander calling Pakistan a 'phenomenal counter-terrorism partner' and then inviting the Pakistani Army Chief to the 250th anniversary of the US Army.
"Vandalism of the ancestral house of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the author of 'Amar Sonar Bangla' - the national anthem of Bangladesh, in Sirajganj, Bangladesh. The Congress Party strongly condemns this," he said in a post on X.
Kharge said there are many other important and crucial issues of foreign policy.
"We have been demanding an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament since day one.
"The Modi government should take suggestions from the opposition, discuss them and decide the national strategy in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister," he said.
The Congress president said this has happened many times before and this would be necessary in the national interest.
The Congress has expressed concern over the invite to Pakistan Army chief by the United States and claimed that India suffered a "huge diplomatic setback" from the US which is constantly hyphenating India and Pakistan and that the Modi government's foreign policy has "failed" as it is driven by domestic political considerations.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the US's recent statements were both a "challenge and a warning" and required serious thinking "when the PM is only interested in playing divisive politics".
He also said Modi should leave aside his "stubbornness" to call an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament.
"Yesterday, Indian foreign policy and diplomacy received three huge, undeniable setbacks. The General of the US Central Command gives a statement that Pakistan is a phenomenal partner in counter-terrorism. What is phenomenal? On May 2, 2011, Osama Bin Laden was found in Abbottabad and you are calling that country a phenomenal partner," Ramesh told PTI.
So, the first "setback" is the US general giving a "clean chit" to Pakistan, he said.
US Army General Michael Kurilla, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), has said Pakistan is "in an active counterterrorism fight right now and has been a phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world".
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