There must have been a confusion between ‘mediate’ and ‘meditate’ which might have led US President Donald Trump to believe that India wanted him to intervene in the Kashmir dispute, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid quipped on Thursday, reported PTI.
India has denied Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested him to mediate between India and Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir dispute.
Khurshid was speaking at the launch of his book “Visible Muslim, Invisible Citizen: Understanding Islam in Indian Democracy”.
Referring to the controversy, the former external affairs minister said in a lighter vein, “May be prime minister Modi wanted to say why don’t you meditate for Yoga, and he thought Modi was asking to mediate.”
“It was a problem of communication. But diplomacy is all about communication and if you are not able to communicate properly, what kind of diplomacy you are having,” he added.
Praising external affairs minister for India, S Jaishankar, “he has a very outstanding record and we have such a bright foreign minister, who has left remarkable legacy behind him (as foreign secretary). But I can say only sorry for him,” Khurshid added.
Earlier MEA said no request was made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Kashmir mediation in his meeting with Donald Trump.
