Yashwant Sinha defies party line, attacks Centre over foreign policy

The radical elements within the BJP and its ideological affiliates may be keeping mum after the RSS’s clear signal to join ranks behind the Prime Minister and his Pakistan policy, notwithstanding the Pathankot attack, but the veterans are not so easily silenced.

‘Talks not feasible’

Party veteran and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday maintained that relations with Pakistan are not conducive for a dialogue.

While the Centre did not comment officially on the Foreign Secretary-level talks that are scheduled for January 14 and 15, Sinha told a television channel that just as “we have forgotten Mumbai (terror attack in Mumbai), we will also forget Pathankot”.

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Atankwad par sarkar ki policy badli hai. Iski wajah kya hai, yah mein nahin janta. Vajpayee sarkar mein na sirf main videsh mantri thha balki videshi mamlon mein Party ka pravakta thha. Humne Pakistan se saaf keh diya thha ki atankwad ke saath-saath baatchit nahin jaari reh sakti (the Government has changed its policy towards terrorism; I don’t know the reason for it. I was not only the Foreign Minister in the Vajpayee government, but also the spokesperson for the Party on foreign affairs. We had made it clear to Pakistan that talks cannot go hand-in-hand with terrorism),” Sinha said.

Sinha, who along with other BJP veterans including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Shanta Kumar, had earlier targeted the PM and BJP president Amit Shah for the party’s defeat in Bihar, also criticised the Centre’s foreign policy. “Modi’s Lahore tour was not a master stroke. Our government is repeating the same mistakes for which we used to criticise Manmohan Singh,” said Sinha.

Sinha is the only BJP leader apart from senior ministers in the Centre who have spoken on the Pathankot attack. Significantly, the RSS has backed Modi on his foreign policy, with Sangh leader Dattatreya Hosabole saying that it was necessary to try and normalise relations with Pakistan. The statement was made in a press conference after terrorists had struck in Pathankot.

Since then, BJP spokespersons as well as radical fringes have either kept silent, or backed the Centre.