Modi's visit to strengthen India's ties with SCO: Rajnath

NEW DELHI: With Narendra Modi govt shuffling its diplomatic feet to cope with US President Donald Trump's tariff shock by resetting its equations with China and deepening ties with Russia, defence minister Rajnath Singh praised PM Modi on Monday. "Prime Minister Modi's successful visit to China is a testimony to his diplomatic skill and India's ability to reshape and rebalance geopolitical ground realities," the defence minister posted on X."His (the PM's) visit has strengthened India's connect with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). This visit will further firm up India's position among the comity of nations. I congratulate PM Modi on his extremely fruitful visit to China," Singh further wrote.Singh's remarks are being seen as a possible precursor to celebration of the outcome in Tianjin by BJP.The governing party circles were excited over the condemnation of terror attack in Pahalgam in SCO's joint statement despite the presence of Pakistan, the "all-weather" ally of China which has almost consistently tried to deflect the attention from Islamabad's use of terrorists.BJP sources also pointed out that in his remarks, the PM had reminded his host and other nations in the audience of India's consistent opposition to the continuing use of "double standards" over the issue of terrorism.A few months ago, Rajnath Singh, who was in China to attend a meeting of SCO defence ministers, had refused to sign off on a joint statement which did not have condemnation of Pahalgam terror attack. In the event, no statement could be issued because of lack of consensus.BJP's initial response was also remarkable because of absence of any criticism of US. There are indications that the party, for all the resentment in its ranks against Trump, will continue to calibrate its response.