New Delhi, May 11: Home minister P. Chidambaram on Monday wrote a strongly worded ‘ protest letter’ to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leading the latter to take Jairam Ramesh to task.
Sources in the home ministry said Chidambaram registered his “ strong displeasure” to Singh following the environment minister’s criticism of India’s policy towards Chinese companies over the weekend in Beijing.
Highlighting that the home ministry was “ only working in the best interests of the country’s security”, Chidambaram is said to have told the PM that the government has the right to run a security check on sophisticated telecom equipment entering the country from China.
He is said to have written that were strong intelligence inputs that certain suspect international vendors could embed malware into the equipment, which could be detrimental to India’s security.
Chidambaram is also believed to have pointed out the impropriety of a cabinet minister to criticise the working of another central ministry, and that too on foreign land, sources said.
Union home secretary G. K. Pillai on Monday blasted the assertions made by Ramesh that the home ministry was “ overly alarmist” regarding Chinese telecom equipment suppliers.
“ Our only concern is the security of the country. I don’t think there is any discrimination happening from the government’s side. It is wrong to say that the security establishment is biased against the Chinese,” he said.
—Agencies