Srinagar: Congress on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “defaming” the country by raising domestic issues abroad and making remarks on how people earlier used to think what sin they commited to have been born in India.
“No Prime Minister has defamed India outside the country like Modi did. In a democratic set up, there are differences but no Prime Minister has derided the country abroad,” AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad said at a press conference.
Ahmad sought to know what sins did Modi commit to have been born in India.
“We would like to know the sins committed by Modi in his previous life for him to be born in India,” he said at the conference, which is a part of a series of such events organised by Congress to mount an offensive on the Modi-led Union government ahead of it completing one year in office.
“There was a time when people used to feel that what sin they committed in their past life which resulted in taking birth in India, is this what you call a country and a government, is this how the people are, let’s leave it and go somewhere else, and people did leave,” Modi had said addressing Indian diaspora in South Korea.
Ahmad said “the Prime Minister does not represent any party, religion or group on his foreign visits and he should not have raised domestic issues during these trips”.
“Since Independence, forget about Prime Ministers, not even ordinary ministers have raised domestic issues abroad. The national president of the BJP Bangaru Laxman was seen by the whole nation and the world taking a bribe. Did anyone raise this issue abroad?” he asked.
The Congress general secretary said “the Prime Minister, after misleading people within the country, has now started misleading Indians living abroad”. Ahmad accused the Modi-led government of embarking on a “false propaganda” and being in “election mode even after one year”.
“Has everything set right in one year? …False propaganda is dangerous for the future of the nation. They are still in the election mode,” he said. On the issue of graft, Ahmad accused the BJP-led NDA government of doing nothing.
“Most of the charges related to corruption against the UPA government were based on the reports of the CAG, which has also said Adani (group) got benefit to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore. This report was laid in Gujarat Assembly,” he claimed.
Ahmad said Sushma swaraj was less of a foreign minister as the role seems to have been appropriated by (Gautam) Adani “who travels with the Prime Minister”.
On the issue of black money, he said that during the Lok Sabha elections last year, Modi had raised the issue and put the amount in thousands of crores.
“Today they are saying we do not know how much black money is stashed abroad,” Ahmad said. (PTI)
