Facing a backlash over his comments to the Indian community in Shanghai, where he said that until he took office, Indians had “regretted being born Indian”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Seoul that though it was a “ground reality”, he didn’t want to give his comments a “political colour.” However he repeated his previous comments speaking to the Indian community in South Korea that, “There was a time when Indians would be ashamed and say, “What is this place?”…“What sins did we commit in our last life to be born Indian in this one, Is this any country? Is this any government? What kind of people are these? Let’s just leave and go,” Mr. Modi had said in his characteristic idiomatic Hindi, with accompanying expressions of derision that evoked laughter from the audience.
>#ModiInsultsIndia is a worldwide top trend because it has offended the sensibilities of every Indian. A national disgrace beyond description
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) >May 19, 2015In an apparent response to criticism over the comments, the Prime Minister added, “I don’t want to go into the reasons, or make a political statement. But this is the ground reality, that people were disappointed and angry. But I can say with confidence that many now want to return to India.” Mr. Modi was speaking to an Indian community crowd of about 1,500 in Seoul on Monday.
Speak for yourself Sir. Strictly Yourself. >#ModiInsultsIndia
— Anubhav Sinha (@anubhavsinha) >May 19, 2015Mr Modi made the earlier comments in Shanghai while marking the one-year anniversary of election results that had given the NDA a majority last year. “On 16 May 2014, there was only one thing every Indian abroad said, “The bad days have gone, the bad days have gone,” he said, adding, “You have lived outside India. How did they treat Indians earlier? They insulted Indians. Was anyone willing to listen or speak to us? No. But within one year you now speak with pride, looking eye to eye with them. Doesn’t the world now respect you? Don’t you feel pride in India now?”
Ppl may dislike many things happening in India.Go abroad for better opportunities.But they're NOT ashamed of being Indian. >#ModiInsultsIndia
— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) >May 19, 2015Mr. Modi's comments invited criticism from several quarters, especially on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, who said they implied wrongly that Indians had been “ashamed of being Indians”, and the hashtag #ModiinsultsIndia was trending by Tuesday afternoon. The comments were also seen as an attack on the previous UPA government for allegations of corruption and of the poor performance of the economy during its tenure, in continuation of his earlier comments during his visit to Germany and Canada in April this year, where the Prime Miiniter had referred to turning an India known for “scams” to “skill”. Within a few hours, a hashtag set up by twitter accounts defending the Prime Minister's comments called #ModiIndia'spride , was also trending on the social network.
Just talked to Brahma. He's not ashamed to have been born Indian either. >#ModiInsultsIndia
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) >May 19, 2015On Saturday, the Congress party had issued a statement calling the Mr. Modi's comments in China, a “new low”. "Verbal character assassination of India's achievements of the last 67 years on foreign soil by Modi is unacceptable,” said a party statement issued by spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Dear PM, India is not getting importance abroad bcoz of you, infact u r getting importance abroad bcoz of India only. >#ModiInsultsIndia
— Manish (@ManishM20) >May 19, 2015Interestingly, in his comments, Mr. Modi had also said that Indians should stop denigrating India. “If we don’t take pride in our heritage, in our strength, no one else will take us seriously. If a mother shouts at her own child, who will play with that child,” the PM had said at the conclusion of his comments in Shanghai.
