“Disrespectful”: S Jaishankar On Mike Pompeo Remarks On Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj served as the External Affairs Minister in the first Modi government from May 2014 to May 2019.

Washington:

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he never saw his counterpart Sushma Swaraj as a “significant political player” but struck up a good friendship with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during their first meeting with her.

In his new book ‘Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’, which hit the market on Tuesday, Pompeo describes Sushma Swaraj in a somewhat disparaging manner, including the American slurs “goofball” and ” Heartland Political Hack” has been used.

Sushma Swaraj served as the External Affairs Minister in the first Modi government from May 2014 to May 2019. He passed away in August 2019.

“On the Indian side, my original counterpart was not a key player in the Indian foreign policy team. Instead, I worked closely with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a close and trusted confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the 59-year-old said. Old Pompey writes in his book.

A confidant of then US President Donald Trump, Pompeo was CIA director in his administration from 2017 to 2018 and then served as secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.

“My other Indian counterpart was Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. In May 2019, we welcomed “J” as India’s new External Affairs Minister. I couldn’t have asked for a better counterpart. I love this man. It’s one of seven languages ​​he speaks, and he has a better one than me,” writes the former top US diplomat, who is now exploring the possibility of running for the 2024 presidency.

“Professional, rational and a fierce defender of his boss and his country,” was how Pompeo described Mr Jaishankar.

“We hit it off right away. In our first meeting, I lamented, in a very diplomatic speech, that his predecessor had not been particularly helpful,” he said.

“He (Jaishankar) said he could see why I had a problem with his predecessor, a mindless political hack at heart. Beware, I am a political hack at heart!” I jokingly replied. He laughed, noting that if that were true, it would make me the first political hack from Heartland who was once editor of the Harvard Law Review. Well played, Jay,” Pompeo said. J here stands for Jaishankar.

Commenting on Pompeo’s claims, Mr. Jaishankar told PTI, “I have seen a passage in Secretary Pompeo’s book referring to Mrs. Sushma Swaraj ji. I have always held her in high esteem and have been exceptionally close and warm with her.” Had relations. I condemn the derogatory speech. Used it for that.” Pompeo also says in his book that the US neglect of India was a decades-long bipartisan failure.

“We are natural allies because we share a history of democracy, a common language, and people-to-technology ties. India is also a market with high demand for American intellectual property and products. These factors, as well as its strategic situation, formed the basis of my diplomacy to counter Chinese aggression in India,” he writes.

“In my mind, a counter-China bloc made up of the United States, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Union would have at least three times the economic weight of China. I chose India,” says Pompeo. Devote a serious amount of time and effort to helping make the U.S. the next great American ally.