Shashi Tharoor | Jaishankar
'Urge my friend Jai to cool a little bit': Shahi Tharoor advises Jaishankar on 'West bad habit' remark
New Delhi/IBNS: Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to "cool a little bit" after the latter's remark about the West's "bad habit" of commenting on other countries.
"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," said Tharoor.
"If we react to every comment, we are doing ourselves a disservice. I will strongly urge my friend Jai to cool a little bit," he said.
This comes after Jaishankar on Sunday slammed the US and Germany's comments on the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following the latter's conviction in a criminal defamation case.
Jaishankar said the West thinks it has a "God-given right" to comment on internal matters of other countries.
He said, "It is because the West has a bad habit 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. And I see that happening."
"We also need to stop giving generous invitations to the world saying there are problems in India," the minister added.
The External Affairs Minister made the remark during a 'Meet and Greet' event organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs PC Mohan and Tejasvi Surya in Bengaluru.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rahul had said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname."
A complaint, which was lodged by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Purnesh Modi, claimed Rahul had defamed the entire Modi community.
A Surat court convicted Rahul to a two-year jail imprisonment. He has been granted bail in the case and a Gujarat court has paused his two-year jail sentence until a decision is taken on his appeal challenging his conviction.
The court will take up his appeal on April 13.
After his conviction, the Congress leader was disqualified by Parliament's lower house Lok Sabha. He was an MP from Kerala's Wayanad constituency.
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