External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday hit back at former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his comments on late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in his new book.
Mike Pompeo referred to the former foreign minister as a "goofball" and "heartland political hack" while also saying that he never saw Swaraj as "an important player on the Indian foreign policy team."
Pompeo then wrote that he had a great working relationship with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and current EAM Jaishankar.
But Pompeo's way to describe Swaraj hasn't gone down well with Jaishankar.
EAM deplores Pompeo's disrespectful comments
Notably, Swaraj was only the second person to complete the 5-year term as Minister of External Affairs after Jawaharlal Nehru before she passed away at the age of 67 on August 6, 2019.
"I have seen a passage in Secretary Pompeo's book referring to Smt Sushma Swaraj ji. I always held her in great esteem and had an exceptionally close and warm relationship with her.
"I deplore the disrespectful colloquialism used for her," Jaishankar said.
