New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) BJP leader Amit Malviya on Wednesday hit out at Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh for terming a recent US military contract involving Pakistan as a “diplomatic setback” for India, calling the remark a deliberate distortion of facts.

In a sharp response on X, Malviya, who heads the BJP’s IT Cell, said, “Not quite the ‘diplomatic setback’ some are trying to project. The recent US contract notification isn’t about any new strategic shift — it’s part of a replacement and maintenance cycle for supplies first made in 2006. Such contracts are routine, often involving allied and non-allied nations alike, with strict end-use monitoring.”

He further accused the Congress of either “ignorance or deliberate distortion,” saying that India’s current global standing allows it to engage from a “position of strength, not submission.”

Malviya added, “To call this a diplomatic failure shows either ignorance or deliberate distortion. If the Congress believes this is a ‘setback,’ perhaps it’s admitting its own inability to manage global partnerships when it was in power.”

His remarks came after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh earlier in the day posted a detailed message citing two public notifications by the US Department of War regarding military contracts.

According to Ramesh, a May 7, 2025 notification listed countries such as Canada, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic, South Korea, Kuwait, Japan, Finland, Germany, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Australia, Turkey, Spain, and Lithuania as recipients of Raytheon-made advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs).

He pointed out that a subsequent notification issued on September 30, 2025, also included Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and Pakistan among the countries to receive similar supplies.

“How quickly the diplomatic climate changes, and how quickly diplomatic setbacks accumulate!” Ramesh remarked in his post, prompting a strong rebuttal from the BJP leader.

–IANS

sas/dan