MODI ‘MISUSING’ GOVT FUNDS FOR EVENTS ABROAD, SAYS CONGRESS

NEWDELHI: The Congress on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “misusing” state machinery for his personal promotion on his foreign visits, and demanded he and his government come clean on the charge.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma also said that the government’s resources have been repeatedly misused to organise Modi’s mega event shows abroad. He cited a letter purportedly written by Indra Mani Pandey, the Indian Ambassador to Oman, to Indian businessmen, seeking their support to ensure the success of a mega Indian diaspora event during Modi’s visit to Muscat. But a source familiar with arrangements of the event said writing a letter served a logistical purpose.

“There was huge interest among people to attend the event. The letter was written to the employer for logistical purposes, to ensure that people get logistical help to attend the event in a seamless manner,” the source said, adding “the enthusiasm evident at the meet very well justifies the point that a large number of Indians wanted to attend, who might not have had the means to reach the event on their own”.

But Sharma said that the envoy informed businessmen of the government-sponsored event, asking them to bring at least 80% “blue-collared” workers. “This is unbecoming of the Prime Minister,” he said.

He also accused Modi of insulting his predecessors and India’s achievements since independence during his visits abroad.

Sharma said Modi should neither berate his predecessors and previous governments nor insult the great achievements of the nation and Indian people before he became the PM. “His thinking, his mindset is authoritarian. This is undemocratic. It does not bode well for the country,” Sharma said. He also mentioned Modi’s other events abroad, including those held in Madison Square Garden in New York and Wembley Stadium in London.