Dr. S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister has condemned the “disrespectful colloquialism” used for his predecessor late Sushma Swaraj by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In his latest book ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’, Pompeo said that he never saw his counterpart Swaraj as an “important political player” in the Indian foreign policy system but got along famously with Jaishankar.

The former top American diplomat used the American slang words “goofball” and “heartland political hack” as he described Swaraj in a critical manner in his book.

“On the Indian side, my original counterpart was not an important player on the Indian foreign policy team. Instead, I worked much more closely with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a close and trusted confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Pompeo writes in his book.

Deploring Pompeo’s comments on Swaraj, Jaishankar said that he had an “exceptional” relationship with her.

Also read: North Korea’s capital compelled for 5-day lockdown

Pompeo heaped praises on Jaishankar, describing him as a “professional, rational, and fierce defender of his boss and his country.”

The 59-year-old, who served as the Secretary of State from 2018 to 2021, further said that he hit it off with his “second counterpart” Jaishankar in their first meeting itself.

“My second Indian counterpart was Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. In May 2019, we welcomed “J” as India’s new foreign minister. I could not have asked for a better counterpart. I love this guy. English is one of the seven languages Jaishankar speaks, and he is somewhat better than mine,” he writes.

“He (Jaishankar) said that he could see why I had trouble with his predecessor (Sushma Swaraj), a goofball and a heartland political hack. ‘Careful, I’m a heartland political hack!’ I replied in jest. He laughed, noting that if that were true, it would make me the first heartland political hack who had ever been an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Well played, J,” Pompeo said in his book.

“We are natural allies, as we share a history of democracy, a common language, and ties of people and technology. India is also a market with enormous demand for American intellectual property and products. These factors, plus its strategic location in South Asia, made India the fulcrum of my diplomacy to counteract Chinese aggression,” he writes.

“In my mind, a counter-China bloc made up of the United States, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the European Union would have an economic weight at least three times that of China. I chose to devote serious quantities of time and effort to help make India the next great American ally,” Pompeo says.