Rajya Sabha MP and former diplomat Jawhar Sircar has taken a dig at Foreign Minister S Jaishankar after he blatantly criticised the Congress party in a podcast by ANI news agency. Recently, Jaishankar said his father Dr K Subrahmanyam was removed as Secretary, Defence Production, by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi soon after she came back to power in 1980 and he was superseded during the Rajiv Gandhi period with someone junior to him becoming the Cabinet Secretary. TRENDING STORIES See All Premium Crypto firm Polygon Labs lays off 20% of workforce as r . . . Premium Gujarat Fluoro, Deepak Nitrite, SRF: Which specialty ch . . . Premium Home decor industry stares at demand slowdown even as p . . . Premium Karnataka: KSRTC to operate modern sleeper buses on 8 i . . . "In 1980, he was Secretary, Defence Production. In 1980 when Indira Gandhi was re-elected, he was the first Secretary that she removed. And he was the most knowledgeable person everybody would say on defence," he added. Jaishankar said his father was also a very upright person, "may be that caused the problem, I don't know". "But the fact was that as a person he saw his own career in bureaucracy, actually kind of stalled. And after that, he never became a Secretary again. He was superseded during the Rajiv Gandhi period by somebody junior to him who became a cabinet secretary. It was something he felt. . . we rarely spoke about it. So he was very, very proud when my elder brother became secretary," said Dr Jaishankar. Following these remarks, Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar tweeted a quote said by Jaishankar's father in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Sircar wrote on Twitter, "S Jaishankar’s father, K Subramanyam said, 'Dharma was killed in Gujarat (2002 Riots). Those who failed to protect innocent citizens are guilty of adharma. Rama…would have used his bow against the ‘Asura’ rulers of Gujarat. . . Shame on son —serving Asura!' Further, the former diplomat added, "Strange — that Jaishankar discovered his angst against the Gandhis — after serving them most loyally and taking the best of postings under them? Is it Amnesia or is he just cuddling up to BJP for his unprecedented promotion as Foreign Minister?" MORE FROM THIS SECTION See All Premium Premium Another Indian-American in US presidential bid: Who is . . . Premium Premium Ed-tech startup Camp K12 lays off 70% of its workforce Premium Premium Want SRK, Katrina or Ranbir at your party? How much Bol . . . Premium Premium Mukesh Ambani to stream Indian Premier League for free . . . During the ANI podcast, Jaishankar spoke about how he became the foreign minister of India. He said the political opportunity as a union minister came as a bolt from the blue in 2019. Reflecting on the phone call from the Prime Minister inviting him to be part of the 2019 Narendra Modi-led cabinet, Jaishankar said that it did come as a surprise. "It had not crossed my mind, I don't think it had crossed the mind of anybody else in my circle," he said referring to his induction in the union cabinet. "Once I entered, I must say in all honesty I myself was very unsure. I had watched politicians all my life. One of the things you get to do in foreign service by the way is you actually perhaps much more than the other services is, you see politicians up close because you see them abroad, you are kind of working with them closely, counselling them. So, it's one thing to watch but to actually join politics, to become a cabinet member, to stand for Rajya Sabha, you know when I was selected, I was not even a member of Parliament. So each of these things happened one by one. I slid into it, sometimes without knowing it. You learn by watching others," he added. Jaishankar, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977, said he looks "very carefully at what people are doing both in my party and other parties". He is a BJP member of Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates. More Less OPEN IN APP.