A day after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the West has a “bad habit” of commenting on others, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday offered him a piece of advice, saying if the government reacts to every comment, it is doing a disservice to itself.
"I have known him for a long time and consider him as a friend but on this issue I think we need not be so thin-skinned, I think it's very important that as a government we take something in stride. If we react to every comment, we are doing ourselves a disservice. I will strongly urge my friend Jai to cool a little bit,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP was quoted as saying by ANI.
Jaishankar on Sunday said the Western nations think they have a "God-given right" to speak about the internal matters of other countries. He was responding to a question on Germany and United States' remarks on the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament.
"There are two reasons. It is because the West has had a bad habit for a long time of commenting on others. They somehow think it is some kind of God-given right. They will have to learn only by experience that if you keep doing this, other people will also start commenting and they will not like it when it happens. I see that happening," Jaishankar said.
He said, "The second part of the truth -- in our arguments, you are inviting the people to comment on you. Then more and more people are tempted to comment. We also need to stop giving generous invitations to the world saying there are problems in India; America and Europe, why are you standing by and doing nothing?