Congress terms India PM Narendra Modi's Madison Square address a waste of money

Congress leader Rashid Alvi said here on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at Madison Square Garden yesterday in New York was a waste of money.

"Spending Rs 4000 crores in this program is a waste of money, had this money been spent in Kashmir, then Indians would have been benefited more. Whatever Narendra Modi did at the Madison Square Garden was all managed, many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had gone there and were managing everything, all this was not required," said Alvi.

He also said that despite spending so much money, there was nothing new in Prime Minister's Madison Square's speech.

Moreover, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Majid Memon termed the speech as childish saying, "Narendra Modi indeed is a good speaker, and by virtue of his oratorical skills, he is creating some kind of a magical spell, but some points he raised in his speech were childish."

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, however, described it as a historic speech, as the Prime Minister had declared to the world that the 21st century would be the century of India, and that India would be supplying the work force to the whole world in the years to come.

"He mentioned that India is the oldest civilization, but is the youngest nation today, and so, we would have a renewed importance in the years that would follow. Prime Minister Modi reiterated that the changed environment of India would surely attract all investors, including NRIs to India and would change the global status of India. Narendra Modi redefined India on an international platform yesterday," said Patra.

Addressing the Indian diaspora at a historic event at Madison Square Garden in New York, Prime Minister Modi yesterday exhorted Indians to join in the development effort as a mass movement.