Even as indian security agencies are constantly gearing up to “deal” with chinese aggression and “strategic” moves, union minister jairam ramesh’s statement yesterday calling indian security establishment as “alarmist and paranoid” about china, is all set to stir the proverbial hornet’s nest. S

For the congress this is the second major faux pas within two weeks. The duo of digvijay singh and mani shanker aiyer had publicly questioned the home ministry’s anti-naxal policy. Ramesh, has exposed the lack of unanimity in the indian ruling combine on dealings with china, said a senior party man.

The outspoken ramesh, it seems, has treaded onto the toes of the home ministry, defence ministry and also the external affairs ministry - all in one go. The congress is clearly on the back foot and too stunned to react. Party spokesperson manish tewari said “since the minister (jairam ramesh) is traveling, it would be inappropriate to comment at this moment”.

Sources in the party said this was policy matter involving security and foreign policy. Just three weeks ago the prime minister had made it clear that only the home ministry should speak on matters of internal security.

Minister of state for environment and forests jairam ramesh, who is in beijing to attend an international conference on climate change, was quoted in newspapers as having said that he had faced some opposition from a “suspicious” security and defence establishment in india on taking forward climate co-operation with china.

Ramesh warned how the , “overly defensive” policies of the home ministry towards chinese companies like telecommunications giant huawei, recently under the scanner and facing an import ban for security reasons, could “dissipate” the “copenhagen spirit.” The news report went on to quote ramesh as having said that there was a large security establishment which is uncomfortable with the copenhagen spirit.

Sources in the security establishment said there were doubts over the ownership of the chinese telecom giant huawei, and it is closely linked to the chinese people’s liberation army. The links created hurdles for huawei in 2008 when it wanted to acquire a stake in us telecom giant 3com and also canadian telecom company nortel. Also with hackers based in china being very active, it is suspected that the chinese equipment carries an embedded software that enables hacking. The suspicion stems from the fact that a former officer of the chinese army, ren zhengfei, owns huawei - a company that was funded by the chinese government in its formative years.