Rajnath Teases Pakistan: ‘India Would Have Given Bigger Bailout Package Than IMF If…’

New Delhi: Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh took a dig at Pakistan for deciding to continue with “strained” relations with India.

Pakistan’s faltering economy forced them to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Rajnath said on Sunday that India would have given them a larger bailout package had they shared cordial and friendly relations.

“Modi ji in 2014-15 announced a special package for development of Jammu and Kashmir which has now reached Rs 90,000 crore. The amount is much bigger than what Pakistan was seeking from the IMF,” PTI quoted Rajnath as saying at an election rally in Jammu & Kashmir’s Gurez assembly segment.

Referring to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous comment, Rajnath repeated, “We can change friends but we cannot change the neighbours.”

Rajnath went on to say, “My Pakistani friends, why have strained relations, we are neighbours. If we had good relations, we would have given more money than the IMF.”

He observed that the Indian government gives money to Jammu & Kashmir for development while Pakistan has been misusing financial aid for a long time, adding that our neighbour seeks money from other countries to run a terror factory on its soil.

“Whenever we have investigated terrorism, we have found Pakistani involvement. Our successive governments have tried to make Pakistan understand that they should stop terror camps but to no avail. Pakistan is frustrated after revocation of Article 370 and is making attempts to revive terror,” Rajnath said.