America
A first time, says Rahul on Obama's praise for Modi
New Delhi, April 22
Congress vice president
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mentioned US President Barack Obama's praise
for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the latest issue of Time magazine
and called it a "first time".
The Congress vice president,
speaking as soon as zero hour began in the lower house, said: "I was at
the Congress president's (Sonia Gandhi) house and I saw Time magazine...
Obama ji has written a long article praising Modi."
"It is perhaps first time in 60 years the US president has praised someone like this," he said.
"Obama
is not a small man... World's biggest industrialists are in the
US...Earlier, the US presidents used to praise (former USSR leader
Mikhail) Gorbachev," he said.
Obama wrote a profile of Modi, titled 'India's reformer-in-chief', for Time magazine.
He
wrote that Modi's life story - his rise from poverty to become India's
prime minister - is symbolic of the country's dynamism and potential.
Even
though the Gandhi scion felt it was the first time an Indian prime
minister has been praised by a US president, Obama has earlier heaped
praise on former prime minister Manmohan Singh as well.
In June
2010, at the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada, Obama had praised Manmohan
Singh as a statesman and said: "I can tell you that here at G20, when
the prime minister speaks, people listen.
In a telephonic
conversation with Singh whose tenure was about to get over, Obama had
said, "I will miss working with you and hope to see you soon."