New Delhi: Reacting sharply over remarks made by the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has summoned Singapore’s envoy to India – Simon Wong in the matter.
Sources said that “remarks by the Singapore Prime Minister were uncalled for”.
Addressing Singapore’s Parliament on Wednesday had invoked Nehru to argue how democracy should work during a parliamentary debate.
Lashing out at Union government for summoning Singapore envoy, Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, “Most unseemly for MEA to summon the HC of a friendly country like Singapore over some remarks by their PM to their own Parliament. He was making a general (and largely accurate) point. Given the stuff our own politicians utter, we must learn to be less thin-skinned!”
He further said that We should have handled the matter with a statement saying “we heard with interest the PM’s remarks. But we don’t comment on other countries’ internal matters, nor on debates in foreign Parliaments, and urge everyone to follow the same principle.” Far more effective and less offensive.