Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday informed the BJP Parliamentary Party the 'special treatment' given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his US and Israeli visits. Modi was the first Indian PM to visit Israel.
Swaraj reeled off before BJP MPs how Modi received more than a red-carpet welcome in both the countries.
She said US President Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump consistently accompanied the Prime Minister in Washington. Trump, she said, focused on bilateral issues as also comprehensively discussed world affairs with the Prime Minister.
Swaraj told MPs how Modi was taken to 16th US President Abraham lincoln's room in the White House which, she said, was " historic" with Modi being the first Prime Minister to be ushered in there. The Foreign Minister said Modi was taken to the "historic hall" where thousands of treaties were signed in the past.
lincoln was President of United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865 and is best known for this humungous struggle against the slavery of blacks in America that also triggered a civil war in that country.
On Modi's path-breaking visit to Israel in 70 years, she said Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed Modi "like a shadow". Swaraj mentioned Netanyahu accompanying Prime Minister Modi to the Indian diaspora's gathering in Israel and the sea beach. Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel when he flew to Tel Aviv on July 5 . " We waited for you for 70 years", said Modi's Israeli counterpart while receiving him in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu had called the visit, which marks 25 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, a "further expression of the state of Israel's military, economic and diplomatic strength".
The Parliamentary Party meeting was also addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who described the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a "win- win" deal for all.