New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of being “insecure” and alleged it discourages foreign dignitaries from meeting with him, drawing rebuttals from the BJP ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival on Thursday.
Gandhi told media persons it has been a “tradition” for opposition leaders to meet visiting heads of states, citing precedents during the governments of “Vajpayee ji and Manmohan Singh ji”. He added that a leader of opposition gives a “different perspective”.
BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut dismissed the allegations, saying, “Rahul Gandhi should join BJP.”
She said: “These are government decisions. Atal ji was a national asset, a patriot. The entire country was proud of him. But Rahul Gandhi’s sentiments for the country are quite questionable.”
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra backed her brother and said, “Every democracy has a protocol which should be followed. The government…is breaking protocols. This reflects insecurity.”
Gandhi’s claims are rooted in decades of parliamentary convention. On 4 December 2004, exactly 21 years before Putin’s latest visit, the Russian President met then Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s term, when the BJP held 138 seats in the 543-member House.
Advani’s engagement with heads of states extended beyond routine courtesy calls. In May 2005, he was sent to conduct peace talks with Pakistan, meeting President Pervez Musharraf to discuss Kashmir and other contentious issues between the two nations. In March 2006, he met US President George W. Bush during an official visit to India.
The practice predates Singh’s tenure. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government from 1999 to 2004, then LoP Sonia Gandhi met US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and other heads of state.
Clinton met Sonia in March 2000 after addressing both houses of Parliament and meeting Vajpayee. Sonia’s meeting with Sharon during his September 2003 visit proved more contentious, with individual Congress members calling for a boycott of the Israeli Prime Minister over the conflict with Palestine. Vajpayee later lauded her gesture to meet Sharon.
Asked about the tradition, a former Indian diplomat told ThePrint he wasn’t an expert on the issue, but it was “always” a “convention” for the LoP to meet a head of state as part of “protocol of an official visit”.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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