Rahul mocks Modi over ‘famous’ Kotler award, Irani hits back

new delhi — Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting the Philip Kotler Presidential award, saying the award was so famous that it has no jury.

“I want to congratulate our Prime Minister on winning the world famous ‘Kotler Presidential Award’,” tweeted Gandhi.

“In fact it’s so famous it has no jury, has never been given out before and is backed by an unheard of Aligarh company. Event Partners: Patanjali and Republic TV,” said Gandhi, tagging a media report.

The award was conferred on Modi on Monday by the World Marketing Summit (WMS) whose event in December was co-sponsored by GAIL India and partnered by Ramdev’s Patanjali group, Republic TV and a number of other companies.

An image put out by the government shows PM Modi receiving the “first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential award” from members of the WMS, which is known to give awards in marketing and management. The award focuses on the triple bottomline of ‘People, Profit and Planet’, which will be offered annually to the leader of a nation,” a Prime Minister’s Office statement said.

“His selfless service towards India, combined with his tireless energy has resulted in extraordinary economic, social and technological advances in the country,” said the citation.

Gandhi’s jibe at Modi attracted reaction from Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani, who referred to former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi being honoured with Bharat Ratna during Congress regimes.

“Rich!!! Coming from a person whose illustrious family decided to confer the ‘Bharat Ratna’ on themselves,” tweeted Irani, referring to Nehru and Indira Gandhi getting India’s highest civilian award while they were prime ministers.

A Wire report quoted one Tauseef Zia Siddiqui, calling himself the representative of Philip Kotler, as saying: “It’s a very confidential award”. —

My personal congratulations to Narendra Modi for winning the world’s ‘first-ever’ ‘very confidential award’. No one else could have won this award

sitaram yechury, CPM leader

Rich!!! Coming from a person (Rahul Gandhi) whose illustrious family decided to confer the ‘Bharat Ratna’ on themselves (Nehru and Indira Gandhi)

smriti irani, Union Textile Minister

Congratulations to PM @NarendraModi for being awarded the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential Award, recognising the success of various reforms undertaken under his leadership such as Digital India, Swachh Bharat, and Make in India initiative piyush Goyal, Railway Minister