New Delhi, December 30
External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna today drew the red line for his deputy Shashi Tharoor for publicly airing his differing views on government policies. Ticking him off personally for his latest transgression, Krishna asked Tharoor to toe the line as “everyone will have to fall on the same page,” once the government decides on a policy.
“The broad policy parameters are dictated, decided by the Minister in-charge of External Affairs of this country and everyone will have to fall on the same page,” he said after a meeting with Tharoor who was in the eye of a storm recently for commenting on the new visa guidelines on the social networking site Twitter. The minister made his displeasure known when Tharoor called on him at his residence this morning to explain his reservations on the visa guidelines, after Krishna had publicly snubbed him for opposing the policy on the networking site. “If there are any perceptions, they should be sorted out within the four walls of the two ministries.” he had said.
The new visa policy introduced by the Home Ministry last month has a provision for a two-month cooling off period between two visits by a foreigner coming on long-term Indian tourist visa to India. The visa guidelines were tightened following revelations about suspects David Headley and Tahhawur Hussain Rana who made several trips to India before the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai.
Writing on Twitter, Tharoor had expressed his reservations on these restrictions and wondered if the new policy would actually strengthen security as the “26/11 killers had no visas”. He said, “Issue is not security vs (versus) tourism, but whether visa restrictions protect our security. 26/11 killers had no visas.”
Krishna maintained that although there could be different perceptions, there is also a method and procedure to “sort out” those issues and stressed he was sure that his deputy minister “understands” that. “Whenever new policy comes in effect, there are bound to be repercussions. Broad policy has been decided and we will do what needs to be done in this regard,” he added.
