Headlines
Modi's remarks reflect unhealthy mindset, says Congress
New Delhi, Feb 3
Congress Tuesday targeted
Prime Minister Narendra Modi over some of his remarks during US
President Barack Obama's visit as also in his political rallies, saying
that it reflected an "unhealthy mindset"
Congress leader Anand
Sharma told the media that Modi's conversation with Obama during their
"chai pe charcha" on the lawns of Hyderabad House last month was a
"national embarrassment".
Noting people were curious to know
about conversation Modi had with Obama during their one-to-one
interaction over tea, he said Obama divulged some of it during his
speech at the ceremonial banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sharma
said Modi told Obama that he walked barefoot and sold tea to battle
poverty in his childhood. The prime minister also told the US president
that he slept for only three hours and worked for 20 hours a day and in
his childhood he fought a crocodile and defeated it.
"He (Modi)
is not increasing respect of the country. He is not edifying the office.
This kind of conversation with heads of state is national embarrassment
to my mind," said the former union minister.
He also referred to Modi calling Obama by his first name.
Sharma
said Modi had claimed that India had got recognition after his
government assumed office. "...we feel it is an unhealthy mindset which
is a concern for the nation," he said, adding the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) was seeking to take credit for the India-US nuclear deal but had
opposed it earlier.
"Instead of taking credit (for operationalising the deal), the prime minister should become serious," he said.
He said the country has to think about the way of working of prime minister as he has centralised authority.
Referring
to curtailing tenure of former DRDO chief Avinash Chander and sacking
of Sujatha Singh as foreign secretary, he said "no body should have been
treated in this manner".
"The government needs to answer why he
is obsessed with repeatedly underscoring he is the only authority and
therefore has the right to humiliate senior civil servants," Sharma
said.
The Congress leader also took exception to Prime Minister
's retort to opposition parties in which he sought to link fall in
global crude prices to his luck.
"To call such mentality sick and unhealthy will be appropriate," Sharma said.