NEW DELHI, SEPT 16: The Congress today took Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to task for not protesting against US President Bill Clinton's remark that Kashmir was at the ``core'' of the difficulties between India and Pakistan.Calling Clinton's remark on Kashmir a ``fundamental departure'' in American policy on the sensitive issue, senior party leader Natwar Singh told mediapersons today that the Prime Minister should have told the US President this was ``not acceptable''.Singh asserted that Clinton's surprise remark was a deliberate decision to show that the US had not abandoned Pakistan. He also charged that the joint press conference by the Prime Minister and the US president was cancelled since journalists would have asked Vajpayee whether he shared Clinton's views on Kashmir.The senior party leader also said that no US President since Harry Truman, who visited India in 1949, had used such words. He added that Clinton had made another ``fundamental departure'' from US policy when, during his visit here, he had declared Kashmir a ``disputed territory''.Singh also asserted that the Prime Minister's US visit had failed to bring any substantial benefit to India on basic issues like declaring Pakistan a terrorist state, lifting of US sanctions and support to New Delhi for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. ``While there have been reports of vast change in US policy, in reality there has not not been an inch of change on major issues,'' Singh said.
