Congress lashes out at PM Modi's 'blot free' remarks in US

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts about his government's "blot-free" three years abroad, he should also tell the people about scams like Vyapam in BJP-ruled states and how Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya fled India, the Congress said today.

The party took potshots at Modi, who at present is in the US for his first bilateral summit with President Donald Trump, for criticising the opposition on foreign soil and addressing public meetings like political rallies. PM Modi, while addressing a gathering of Indian-American community members at a reception in Virginia, said there has been "not even one taint or blot" on his government in the past three years and remarked that "corruption" was the main reason why governments in India were voted out in the past.

The Congress sought to know if the prime minister would raise with Trump the issues of H-1B visa, India's membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group, racial attacks on Indians in the US and America's financial support to Pakistan, which it was using against India for aiding terrorism. "Prime Minister Modi is on his 64th foreign travel. Unfortunately, abusing the opposition has become the foreign policy (of the government), diverting from issues the strategy and working with rhetoric their tactics while claiming credit for Congress-started works their politics," AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

He said the claim of neem-coated urea that Modi has raised was an experiment started by the Congress in 2011, while the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme was launched in 2013 by the UPA government. "Modiji you are the country's prime minister and not of the BJP or the RSS. The issue is criticising the opposition has become the prime minister's DNA. But the country wants to talk about the nation's interest and issues linked with the people of the country," he said.

Surjewala said when Modi mentions about "no scams" in his government, he should also tell the Indians living abroad about how all agencies which have been "caged by you" and "are misused against your opponents - be it political or even the media". "When he (Modi) talks of corruption, he should also mention about the Vyapam scam in which many innocent people lost their lives and should have mentioned the GSPC scam in Gujarat, the PDS scam in Chhattisgarh and the mine scam in Rajasthan.

"He (Modi) should have also mentioned about the Sahara dairies in which his own name figures. He should have also talked about the land scam by Anar Patel in Gujarat and should have talked about who allowed Lalit Modi and Vijaya Mallya to flee the country," Surjewala said.

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and businessman Vijay Mallya are both accused of corruption and believed to be staying in Engalnd. The Congress leader asked the prime minister to raise the issue of H-1B visa with the US President as also India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is being blocked by China.

"Will Modiji raise with the US President the issue of American aid of USD 743 million aid to Pakistan which has been increased and is used against India after diversion? "Will Modiji raise the issue of India's concerns over Climate Change deal? Will he show the courage to ask these questions to the US President? Will he ask the US President why F-16 technology transfer is not being made and stopped from being transferred," he wondered. Surjewala also asked whether Modi will ask Trump about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and help it get stopped.