India objects as Singapore PM cites Nehru

New Delhi, Feb 18: India has lodged a protest with the Singapore High Commission over its Prime Minister's comments on criminal charges against Indian lawmakers.

During a debate in Parliament, PM Lee Hsein Loong also invoked Jawaharlal Nehru while making a point about how democracies should work. The Indian foreign ministry raised the issue with the Singaporean High Commissioner at a meeting and said that the comments were uncalled for.

"Pandit Nehru's magnanimity continues to inspire world leaders even today. Pity the ones here at home who fail to have the vision to understand the exceptional leader he was," the Congress said on Twitter.

"While Nehru's India has become one where, according to media reports, almost half the MPs in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges pending against them, including charges of rape and murder. Though it is also said that many of these allegations are politically motivated," Lee had said in Parliament.

Many political systems today would be quite unrecognisable to their founding leaders. Ben-Gurion's Israel has morphed into one which can barely form a government, despite four general elections in two years. Meanwhile, a stream of senior politicians and officials in Israel face a litany of criminal charges, some have gone to jail," Lee also said.