External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that the West has had a ”bad habit” for a long time, of commenting on others, and it thinks it has a ”God-given right” to speak about the internal matters of other countries. He said this during a ‘Meet and Greet’ interaction organised by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan with over 500 young voters, joggers and visitors at Cubbon Park here. The Minister was responding to a question on Germany and United States’ remarks on the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament. ”There are two reasons. It is because the West has had a bad habit for a long time of commenting on others. They somehow think it is some kind of God-given right. They will have to learn only by experience that if you keep doing this, other people will also start commenting and they will not like it when it happens. I see that happening,” Jaishankar said. He said, ”The second part of the truth — in our arguments, you are inviting the people to comment on you. Then more and more people are tempted to comment. We also need to stop giving generous invitations to the world saying there are problems in India; America and Europe, why are you standing by and doing nothing? ”So if somebody from here goes and says ‘why are you standing by and saying nothing’, then obviously they are going to comment. Part of the problem is them, part of the problem is us. And I think both need fixing,” he added. Bengaluru South and Central MPs Surya and Mohan were present during the interaction. Responding to a question on freebie culture, Jaishankar said some people in Delhi were masters of it. ”They are doing it because they do not have the responsibility of raising resources,” he commented. ”You can’t run a country on the basis of freebies. Somewhere, somebody has to pay for it. Anybody who is giving a freebie here is taking away something elsewhere,” he said. Freebie culture was a way of getting quick popularity in a very irresponsible way, he said, adding that it was not sustainable.
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