Modi Govt disrupted India's foreign policy: Congress

The Congress on Sunday launched an all-out attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi government over its foreign policy and said that the policy has been converted into a divisive national issue by the ruling dispensation.

On the final day of the two-day Congress Plenary Session, senior leader Anand Sharma, who moved the foreign affairs resolution, said, "I am saddened to note here that that consensus built (on foreign policy) over decades has been unravelled. The continuity of India's foreign policy has been disrupted by the BJP and Modi-led government. They have made foreign policy a divisive national issue in the last four years."

The Congress leader evoked India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's approach to international relations, saying the latter ensured that the country's foreign policy was sovereign and independent and that the country did not lean on one side or the other.

"Foreign policy that India pursued had a blend of pragmatism, idealism, and a deep print of the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru," Sharma said, adding that under the Congress-led UPA government, there was a strong national consensus on India's foreign policy.

Sharma further commented that India's foreign policy has now taken a back seat due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's propagandist pursuits.

"The present government and the prime minister have pursued foreign policy in a cavalier manner, which is non-serious. The Prime Minister is carried away by his own propaganda. Today it is a matter of concern that we have mismanaged our relations with major capitals of the world, with major strategic partners and our immediate neighbourhood," he added

The 84th Congress Plenary Session is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, here.