From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Mar 7: Congress on Thursday made it clear that India would not interfere in the domestic affairs of Sri Lanka but "unambiguously" condemn human rights violations.
Congress party’s national spokesman Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who addressed a news conference in Bangalore, was reacting to US plans to move a new resolution against Sri Lanka at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council for its alleged war crimes.
Dr Singhvi said Indian government’s stand is a calibrated middle-of-the-road approach of not to interfereing in the domestic affairs of another country.
"The Indian government's stand on Sri Lanka is a calibrated middle-of-the-road stand. The stand is simple. We do not interfere in domestic affairs of a country, especially our neighbbouring country, a valuable ally like Sri Lanka,” he asserted.
He, however, made it categorically clear that the Government condemns without hesitation and being unambiguous all the human rights violations, especially of the serious kind.
''I think it is a nuanced and balanced approach (of Indian government)," he mentioned.
To a question on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s reluctance to being projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate unlike Gujrat chief minister Narendra Modi’s over-eagerness, Dr Singhvi said Modi had a long way to go win over his own BJP and then convince the present and prospective allies of NDA.
On Rahul Gandhi, Dr Singhvi said the Congress Vice President had his own priorities and becoming Prime Minister was not among them, as of now anyway as he had told fellow members of Parliament who asked him whether he wants to be Prime Minister was a wrong question.
Obviously, Rahul Gandhi by his own admission had adopted Mahatma Gandhi as his ideal and believed in "Nishkam Karma" — work without expectations of reward.
To a question on the delay in passing anti-rape law due to lack of consensus in the Cabinet, Dr Singhvi said there was bound to be a level of disagreement on many specific issues but things are moving far faster than before.
The government's time-frame was to ensure that the Delhi brave girl, Nirbhaya’s tragic rape and murder incident would lead to conviction in next three to six months.
The Government had to consider some of the suggestions of the Justice Verma Commission and there was need for a wider debate.
"We should not get carried away by a system where we end up perhaps with more laws and less enforcement. If that happens then you are back to square one," he contended.