The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of failing to directly raise with US President Donald Trump the killing of three Indian seafarers in an American military strike and alleged that the government’s guiding principle had become “PR first” rather than “nation first”.
The opposition party also invoked the responses of former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Indira Gandhi during past diplomatic disputes involving the United States, arguing that previous Congress governments had prioritised national interests in their dealings with Washington.
Addressing a press conference, Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera criticised Modi’s interaction with Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.
“He sat huddled on the sofa, addressing Trump as ‘excellency’. It was truly embarrassing. It looked as though a company agent were speaking to the boss; we had never seen a prime minister like this before,” Khera alleged.
The Congress leader claimed that despite the deaths of three Indian sailors in a US military strike, Trump did not express regret and Modi did not press the issue strongly enough.
“Narendra Modi kept giggling but failed to ask Trump a single question about the killing of Indian sailors, simply because his skin had been complimented,” Khera said.
Referring to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the government’s foreign policy, Khera alleged that India had suffered diplomatic setbacks under the current administration.
“This is not ‘nation first’ but ‘PR first’,” he said.
Khera also cited the diplomatic response of former prime minister Manmohan Singh during the Devyani Khobragade row in 2013 and referred to policies pursued under former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to argue that earlier governments had adopted a firmer approach in dealing with the United States.
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