Reacting strongly to remarks on past governments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the Indian community in Shanghai last week, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said here on Tuesday that no other Prime Minister would have given such a statement on foreign soil. Mr. Modi had said Indians felt ashamed of being born here, he said.
“He said there was a time when people wondered what crime they had committed in their past life that they were born in India. Never in history had any Prime Minister given such a statement. I had never seen such a decline in politics,” said Mr. Sibal.
“It has become a habit for him to speak out without facts,” said Mr. Sibal, accusing Mr. Modi of unilaterally doling out e-visas to the Chinese. While delivering a lecture at Tsinghua University on May 15, Mr. Modi said e-visas would be extended to Chinese tourists. However, shortly before the announcement, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said no decision had been taken on the issue yet. This led to speculation that Mr. Modi had overruled objections within the security estab-lishment against the move.
“They [China] talk about stapled visas for Arunachal Pradesh and show our part of Jammu and Kashmir as Pakistan’s territory. When we were in power, this issue had also come before us. However, we decided that we will not provide the facility to China without getting anything worthwhile in return,” he said.
Criticising the Prime Minister for undertaking frequent foreign trips, Mr. Sibal said: “It would also be the first in world history that a Prime Minister has notched up so many miles. ... he is more concerned about NRIs than the residents.”
