"Did you care about India's image when Modi was denied visa by US?"

New Delhi, May 20: Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit back at the Congress over the #ModiInsultsIndia row that broke out on social media after the Indian prime minister said during his recent trip to China and South Korea that how bad people used to feel earlier at being born in India. [PM Modi never insulted India in China, his words were distorted]

Speaking to NDTV on a debate, Sitharaman lashed out at the Congress asking whether it was equally thoughtful about India's image abroad when the United States had denied a visa to Narendra Modi? She asked Sachin Pilot, who was also present on the same programme, whether they had stood up for an elected chief minister of India?

Pilot argued that the way PM Modi spoke on domestic politics abroad can not be supported. When the prime minister is travelling abroad, he is everybody's PM. The Congress leader said it is not right to present India's image as a "fractured nation" abroad.

Sitharaman was unconvinced, however. Accusing the Congress of hypocrisy, she said when 63 MPs from India, including those from the Congress, wrote to US senators to stop Modi from visiting that country, the question of India's image did not bother anybody.

Pilot tried to defend this by saying the Indian PM should raise this issue directly with US President Barack Obama but Sitharaman called the response a "lame" one.

Oneindia News