Adhir Ranjan's Views on China His Personal Stand, Don't Reflect Congress Position, Says Anand Sharma

A day after Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accord to diplomatic recognition to Taiwan “without much delay”, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma clarified that Chowdhury’s views on China are of his own and does not reflect the party’s position.

Asserting that the Congress party recognises and values the special strategic partnership between India and China, Sharma tweeted, “The Indian National Congress recognises and values the special strategic partnership between India and China. As two ancient civilisations and large economies of the world both countries are destined to make a significant contribution in the 21st Century.”

In another tweet, he said, “The views of Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in China are his own and do not reflect the party position.”

Chowdhury’s statement on China came after Taiwan donated one million face masks to India in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic.

“Be careful China, Indian forces know how to defang the venomous snakes like you, entire world is watching the sinister design of yellow expansionist,” he tweeted yesterday. However, the Behrampore MP later deleted his tweet after facing flak on social media.

This is not the first time when Chowdhury’s social media posts or comments have garnered headlines. Recently, he was in limelight for his confusing tweet on colleague and former union finance minister P Chidambaram. He had also made controversial statements on issues such as Article 370 in Parliament, which also earned him the ire of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

When Chidambaram was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the INX Media case, Chowdhury had tweeted, "Enlargement of @PChidambaram_INji has eloquently proved that at the end of the day truth prevails upon, he is irresistible (sic).”

However, he later clarified that “Enlargement is legal jargon, which means ‘Jail Se Bari Hona’”. “You can ask a legal professional. If someone has failed to understand my tweet, it is their problem. Those who are confused and are making headlines, I would like to suggest to them that they should flip the pages of a legal dictionary first,” he had said in his defence.

Not only this, a few months back, while arguing the suspension of seven Congress members from the Lok Sabha and demanding revocation of Speaker Om Birla’s orders, Chowdhury had made a controversial comment, saying, “Jeb katrey ko phansi ke takhte pe nahi chadaya ja sakta hai (a pickpocket cannot be sent to the gallows).”

Chowdhury won the Behrampore Lok Sabha seat by defeating Trinamool Congress candidate, Apurba Sarkar, in 2019 general elections. His political prowess didn’t go unnoticed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had complimented him for remaining a strong critic of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and had called him a ‘fighter’ with a pat on his back.