New Delhi:
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor admitted on Tuesday that with “egg on his face” he had been left in the opposition of India's attitude when the war broke out in Russia-Ukraine and said because of the policy that was assumed, the country is now in a position where it can make a difference for permanent peace.
Tharoor had criticized India's position when Russia attacked Ukraine and called for the aggression to be convinced.
During an interactive session in the Raisina dialog here, the former Foreign Minister for External Affairs said: “I still wipe the egg of my face because I am one person in the parliamentary debate that actually criticized the Indian position in February 2022.”
The Thiruvananthapuram Member of Parliament said that his criticism was based on the “known grounds that there was a violation of the UN charter, there was a violation of the principle of invalibility of boundaries, of the sovereignty of a Member State, namely Ukraine, and we had always held for the use of the international gifts”.
“All those principles had been violated by one party and we should have affected it. Well, three years later it looks like I am the egg on my face, because the policy has clearly meant that India actually has a prime minister who both the President of Ukraine and the president in Moscow apart for two weeks and is accepted in both places,”
That is why India is in a position where it can make a difference for a permanent peace if it was, if necessary, in a way that very few countries could, said Mr Tharoor.
India also benefits because of a number of factors, including the distance from Europe, he said.
With the reservation that he cannot speak on behalf of the government as he was in the opposition, Mr Tharoor also said if it was necessary and if there was an agreed peace between Russia and Ukraine, there would be some willingness on the Indian side to consider peacekeepers.
Notifying that Russians have made it explicit that they will not accept European peacemakers who belong to NATO countries, Mr Tharoor said that people should look outside of Europe for peace -enforcers.
“Speaking as an Indian parliamentarian, I don't think there will be a lot of resistance to that idea. There was famous resistance when there was a request for India to send troops to Iraq in 2003 and the parliament came together and approved a solution, saying that the Indian peace enforcers would go to Iraq,” said the congress.
“I don't see that happening for Ukraine. I think if it was necessary and there was an agreed peace, I think there would be a willingness to consider. But I can't speak for the government, I am in the opposition,” he said.
Mr. Tharoor said that with a record of more than 49 peace missions, the dedication of India to global stability is well established.
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