bdnews24.com :
“Don’t expect too much to change as far as foreign policy is concerned,” says Amit Shah, the most trusted aide of India’s next prime minister Narendra Modi.
Shah was asked about India’s future policy in the neighbourhood by NDTV anchorperson Barkha Dutt late on Saturday.
His reply dispelled doubts about any major ‘course correction’ that his boss may bring about in foreign policy.
“Foreign policy is based on national interests and don’t hugely change with regimes unless there is a specific need for a major initiative,” Shah said.
Shah has been a minister in Modi’s Gujarat cabinet and was put in charge of the BJP organisation of Uttar Pradesh, which has 84 of the 543 seats in the Indian Lok Sabha.
He justified Modi’s faith in him as the master strategist by engineering a near sweep in UP that many say paved the way for BJP’s clear majority on its own this time.
Sources close to BJP and Modi indicate there will be a strong PMO and
Amit Shah could well be minister of state in charge of it as Modi’s interface with other ministries to check on task implementation. Barkha Dutt asked Shah about whether Modi will take up Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s invitation to visit Pakistan.
“I don’t think that will happen immediately. The situation there will first be assessed in depth,” Shah said, dispelling any immediate Vajpayee type initiative to go to Pakistan.
“We know who our friends are in the region and who cause us trouble,” Shah said, hinting at Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism.
“Don’t expect much change in our foreign policy. I will only say our government will never compromise with the honour and security of the country,” Shah said.
That should be clear enough hint that Modi’s Bangladesh policy will not be very different from his predecessor.
Though the BJP initially opposed the introduction of the bill formalising the Indo-Bangladesh land boundary agreement in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House), it finally did not resist when former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid placed the bill in the winter session.
That was after former Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni met BJP’s Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley and Bangladesh’s Delhi envoy met Narendra Modi in the Gujarat capital.
BJP’s general secretary in charge of West Bengal Varun Gandhi wrote an article in Times of India supporting both the land boundary agreement and proposed Teesta water sharing treaty with Bangladesh.
Speculation in Delhi BJP circles has it that while Arun Jaitley, who lost in Amritsar, may be inducted by Modi as the next foreign minister, Varun Gandhi may get an important department as minister of state.
“Don’t expect too much to change as far as foreign policy is concerned,” says Amit Shah, the most trusted aide of India’s next prime minister Narendra Modi.
Shah was asked about India’s future policy in the neighbourhood by NDTV anchorperson Barkha Dutt late on Saturday.
His reply dispelled doubts about any major ‘course correction’ that his boss may bring about in foreign policy.
“Foreign policy is based on national interests and don’t hugely change with regimes unless there is a specific need for a major initiative,” Shah said.
Shah has been a minister in Modi’s Gujarat cabinet and was put in charge of the BJP organisation of Uttar Pradesh, which has 84 of the 543 seats in the Indian Lok Sabha.
He justified Modi’s faith in him as the master strategist by engineering a near sweep in UP that many say paved the way for BJP’s clear majority on its own this time.
Sources close to BJP and Modi indicate there will be a strong PMO and
Amit Shah could well be minister of state in charge of it as Modi’s interface with other ministries to check on task implementation. Barkha Dutt asked Shah about whether Modi will take up Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s invitation to visit Pakistan.
“I don’t think that will happen immediately. The situation there will first be assessed in depth,” Shah said, dispelling any immediate Vajpayee type initiative to go to Pakistan.
“We know who our friends are in the region and who cause us trouble,” Shah said, hinting at Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism.
“Don’t expect much change in our foreign policy. I will only say our government will never compromise with the honour and security of the country,” Shah said.
That should be clear enough hint that Modi’s Bangladesh policy will not be very different from his predecessor.
Though the BJP initially opposed the introduction of the bill formalising the Indo-Bangladesh land boundary agreement in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House), it finally did not resist when former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid placed the bill in the winter session.
That was after former Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni met BJP’s Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley and Bangladesh’s Delhi envoy met Narendra Modi in the Gujarat capital.
BJP’s general secretary in charge of West Bengal Varun Gandhi wrote an article in Times of India supporting both the land boundary agreement and proposed Teesta water sharing treaty with Bangladesh.
Speculation in Delhi BJP circles has it that while Arun Jaitley, who lost in Amritsar, may be inducted by Modi as the next foreign minister, Varun Gandhi may get an important department as minister of state.
