Delhi blast: Salman Khurshid seeks PM's answer in Parl

New Delhi: In the wake of the Delhi blast, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said the incident has put a "very serious question mark" on the government's security policy and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should answer on the "lapse" in Parliament soon.

The former external Affairs minister also alleged that "strategic failures" are now writ large as far as the Modi government is concerned.

In an interview with PTI, Khurshid called for a steady foreign policy instead of a "personalised" and "episodic" one playing out currently.

"We should have a steady foreign policy. I don't think we have a steady foreign policy, we have a sporadic, episodic, personalised, aberrational foreign policy. This is not foreign policy (at all)," he said while talking about the recently-published book "India's Tryst with the World: A Foreign Policy Manifesto" that has been edited by him and Salil Shetty and contains an article by former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Asked about the Congress' assertion calling on the government to clear its stance on the 'new normal doctrine' which stated that any future terror attack after Pahalgam would be treated as an act of war, Khurshid said, "We are not jingoists but we believe that the country needs the best attention of the people that command attention in the country, which means the government and the opposition."

"We are startled about what has happened near the Red Fort and its connections with other parts of the country. In all these days there is not a single clear statement that has come from the government, saying two things: how did this intelligence failure happen and what are its implications particularly in light of what it has been saying in the past," the chairperson of the Congress' foreign affairs department said.

"For people who turn around and say to the Congress -- 'why are you not pushing the government enough?' Frankly if there is a crisis of confidence, or of strategic nature etc., we owe it to the country and to the people that we let the government take the best decisions possible and then come out clearly in its support but a government that is not willing to trust people and trust the opposition, what do you expect of that government," Khurshid asked.

"I could take a whole hour to talk about strategic and intelligence failures. I think this is a very serious question mark on this government's security policy," he said of the blast.

Talking about the demands of the Congress on the issue, Khurshid said his party has made it clear that "let's get into Parliament quickly".

"In a responsible way, in a responsible place, let us talk about what is happening and why it is happening again and again despite all the profound statements made by this government," he said.