PM of A Nation Of 1.5 bn Deserves Respect Everywhere: Congress Leader

Congress leader Sam Pitroda has said that the Indian Prime Minister is getting a lot of reception and the premier of the world's most populous nation deserves respect everywhere.

His comments come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic trip to the US.

"He (Gandhi) knows where we (India) are doing something right, we are all for it. And you see, someone told me that, the Indian Prime Minister is getting a lot of reception. And I said I'm happy about it because, at the end of the day, he's also my Prime Minister. But let's not make a mistake. He's getting reception because he's India's Prime Minister. And not because he's BJP's Prime Minister. Separate these two things," PTI quoted Pitroda as saying in an interview.

He added, "A Prime Minister of a nation of 1.5 billion people deserves respect everywhere. And I'm proud of it. I'm not negative about it,"

President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Modi for an official state visit to the US, which will include a state dinner, on June 22.

"On behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, it is our honour to invite you (Prime Minister Modi) to address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, June 22," top congressional leaders announced on Friday.

The statement was signed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Talking about Rahul Gandhi's visit to the US, he said that it has generated hope and excitement. "Both (he and Gandhi) of us are convinced that the message has to go to the global leaders today. Global leaders are not aware of the reality, and implication of it," Pitroda said.

"For example, in one major meeting we had today in private, we told them that the periodic table has been taken off the school syllabus. They said it's not possible. I said, how come you don't know this? And evolution theory has been taken off. And they were shocked. They said, how could you be a scientific nation with all these NRIs running multi-billion dollar companies and in their country now the periodic table has been taken off? What will happen to the next generation of people?" Pitroda said.