Brushing aside Congress criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday alleged that this was borne out of “sheer jealousy and guilt” as every foreign visit of the PM holds the mirror to the lost opportunities during the 10 years of UPA rule.
Stating that he was not surprised to know of “the disappointment” expressed by Congress over Prime Minister’s meeting with US President Donald Trump Monday night, the Information and Broadcasting Minister asserted that the grand welcome accorded to Modi “speaks for the rising importance” of India in the global economic and geo-political order.
“Congress deliberately refuses to see and believe the significant outcomes of this visit of PM and his meeting with the new US President for the first time. This is borne out of sheer jealousy and guilt as Prime Minister’s every foreign visit holds mirror to the lost opportunities during the ten years of UPA rule”, he said in a statement.
Naidu said Congress is particularly disappointed as Trump “acknowledged the accomplishments of India” under Modi during the last three years. He particularly referred to the comprehensive battle against corruption launched during this period, the minister said. He said the visit of Prime Minister “is singular success” which was reflected in the joint media briefing made by the two leaders.
“The main objective of Prime Minister’s visit to the US is to further strengthen and consolidate the Indo-US relations besides sharing perspectives on a wide range of regional and global issues including the menace of terrorism, trade and economic cooperation, strategic partnership etc” which he said were accomplished during the visit.Rubbishing Congress criticism, the minister said the growing status of Prime Minister as a global leader and statesmen is “obviously is not digestable” to Congress given “their lackluster foreign policy over the earlier ten years.”
He referred to the US declaring Hizbul Mujahideen’s head Syed Salahuddin as a ‘global terrorist’ as reflective of the US addressing India’s concerns in the matter.
“If this is not a major outcome of PM’s visit to the US for the Congress Party, this is a clear evidence of disorientation that this party is suffering from with its growing irrelevance and mounting frustration”, he said