Rejecting strongly US President Donald Trump's charge against it on climate deal, India said on Monday it signed the Paris agreement not under duress or for lure of money but due to its commitment to protect environment. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also described the proposed changes in H1B visas as a “matter of concern”.
Swaraj made it amply clear that India will continue to be a part of the agreement irrespective of whether the US remains in it.
“India signed the Paris climate pact not because of pressure from any country or due to lure of money. Our signature in the pact was not because of greed, it was not because of fear. We signed it due to our commitment to protecting the environment,” she said.
Announcing withdrawal of the US from the Paris deal, Trump cited a number of reasons for the decisions and had said, “India makes its participation on receiving billions and billions of dollars from developed countries.” Rejecting Trump’s allegation, Swaraj said it was “not the reality”.
She asserted that India signed the pact because of Indian culture and ethos.
“This commitment is 5,000 years old. We worship rivers, trees and mountains. This is India’s ethos, it is our cultural heritage. If someone says we signed the pact due to lure of money and pressure from someone, it is wrong. I reject both these allegations.
"India will continue to be part of it irrespective of whether the US remains in it or not," the External Affairs Minister said.
Swaraj said India-US ties are progressing under the Trump administration as they were during the Barack Obama presidency and the pace had not slowed down.
She said the government was engaged with the Donald Trump administration as well as US Congressmen on the issue and was "alert" to any possible negative impact.
The matter will also figure during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, she said, but did not give the date of his travel. Modi is expected to visit the country by the month-end.
The minister said India will raise airspace violation issue with China after Chinese choppers flew over Chamoli district. She said India opposed China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) project as it violated India's sovereignty, which was not acceptable.
Swaraj said India wants countries which back its bid for NSG membership and are friends with China, to talk to Beijing on the issue. On Pakistan, she said New Delhi wants to resolve all issues with Islamabad bilaterally, but talks and terror cannot go together. The minister said Pakistan can't take the Kashmir issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and stressed that Kashmir can only be resolved bilaterally.
On Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, cutting ties with Qatar, Swaraj termed it an internal matter of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). "India is only ascertaining if any of its nationals are getting adversely impacted by it," Swaraj said.
She said 80,000 people stranded abroad were brought back to India in the last three years. The minister said there has been a 37.5 per cent increase in foreign direct investment since NDA government took over three years ago.