Modi gets a warm reception in Canada
CONGRESS REACTS TO PREMIER’S ‘SCAM INDIA’ COMMENTS
India Prime Minister Narenda Modi sealed a $700-million (Dh2.5 billion) deal with Canada on Wednesday for the purchase of Canadian uranium as he began the first bilateral visit there by an Indian leader in 42 years.
Modi, who has received enthusiastic receptions in world stadiums like New York’s Madison Square Garden and Sydney’s Olympic Park, was greeted by “throngs” of supporters as he landed later yesterday in Toronto, CBC reported.
He was to speak to about 10,000 people at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum.
Standing next to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa, Modi said Canada’s agreement to allow uranium sales to India “is a mark [of Canada’s] trust and confidence” in India, according to Canadian media reports.
Harper emphasised the close cooperation between Canada and India on security issues, saying the two countries would further “deepen” its cooperation between security agencies.
“I think all governments of the world have a shared interest in pooling resources and actions toward eradicating the threat of terrorism,” Harper said, according to a video of his remarks.
Harper also made an unexpected announcement that he and Modi had agreed to work for a quick resolution of Canada-India free trade talks, bogged down since 2010. The deal could be completed by September, Harper said.
About one million of Canada’s population of 35 million are of Indian heritage.
Congress ‘helpless’
Meanwhile, the Congress yesterday hit out at Modi for his remarks in Canada about the “mess” left behind by others, saying they were in “poor taste” coming on foreign soil and show that he still carries the “hangover of the election campaign”.
Modi had said that earlier India’s identity was “scam India” and he now has to change it around the world to “skill India”.
“We are helpless ... but to say that the prime minister has hurt the prestige of his position,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
He said: “It has become characteristic of Modi to malign previous governments.”
“The prime minister’s statement on foreign soil, both in Germany and Canada, has been in poor taste. It is clear that [Modi] carries a hangover of the 2014 election campaign.
“He is talking on foreign soil to malign his predecessors and the present opposition. No prime minister of India in its history has ever done so,” Sharma said.