Congress today distanced itself from the remarks of environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who was critical of the home ministry for allegedly stalling import of Chinese telecom equipment and raising security concerns.
"Let the minister come back and throw light on what he has said. He can tell whether there was any confusion about what he said," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
Sources in Congress admitted that there is disquiet in the party circles over the remarks by a Congress minister against the approach of another ministry of its own government. "It is something that is not encouraging," a senior leader said.
"An adverse comment against the policy and functioning of a ministry as sensitive as home affairs, that, too in a foreign land, cannot be justified. If there are differences of opinion over an issue, these have to be resolved at party and government fora," he said.
Ramesh had said in Beijing on Saturday that the "overly defensive and alarmist" approach in the security establishments in India which are raising telephone tapping concerns will not help in sustaining the Copenhagen spirit.
He had said that India should be much more relaxed in its approach to Chinese investments into the country and get rid of "needless" restrictions adding "we are imagining demons where there are none."
Suggesting that India should be more open and receptive to investments and technology from the neighbouring country, Ramesh said the spirit of cooperation evolved at Copenhagen between the prime ministers of the two Asian giants should be
taken forward.
Ramesh had made the remarks in the context of recent reports that India had barred import of telecom equipment from major Chinese firm Huawei, especially in the border areas following security concerns.
Home secretary GK Pillai has, however, rubbished reports of a bias against China saying there was no discrimination from the government's side and it was wrong to say that the security establishment was biased against the Chinese.
