Prime Minister Modi is out of the country again. This time, he is on his second visit to the United States of America, with multiple goals in sight.
Modi became the first Indian PM in 30 years to to visit the US West Coast. He went there to connect with the Indian Diaspora and Tech giants like Google and Facebook to expand and propound his vision of Digital India.
He visited Tesla Motors to see if the innovations there could be used in rural India. He talked to Apple to convince them to manufacture in India. He had meetings with several Fortune 500 CEOs to again push for Make in India.
He had a townhall discussion with Mark Zuckerburg where he answered questions on Make In India’s efficacy, pace of reforms in India, his actions towards empowering women. He went to the Google campus where there was an announcement of high-speed wireless internet at 500 railway stations in India. He spoke at the UN where he asked for tough measures on terrorism.
All in all, there are many talking points about Modi’s visit to the USA. But discussion on most of these topics needs a basic understanding of the subject. And that needs some homework. What does not need any homework is picking up the weakest, most irrelevant topic, which happens to be a very personal issue, and mindlessly attacking it.
And thats what Congress did. Towards the end of the townhall, to a pointed question from Zuckerberg about Modi’s mother, the Modi’s voice cracked when he recalled his mother’s hardships when she washed utensils at neighbours’ homes to support her family.
And for some reason, the Congress, who are sworn sycophants of only one “mother”, decided to raise this extremely personal issue making some very crass comments.
Anand Sharma was the man chosen by Congress to execute this dirty job and he claimed that Modi lied about his mother’s hardships. Fact? Check this video from 2014, before the Lok Sabha elections, where Modi’s mother admits she had to do menial labour to raise her children. She says she stayed hungry to ensure her children never suffered.
And here we have the Congress mocking a mother’s sacrifice. Not only does it disrespect Modi’s mother and her sacrfice it also trivialises countless such mothers and their sacrifices for their children. And more importantly, is this the most important, burning issue which needs to be debated.
Anand Sharma was not done though. He went one step further and said:
”PM Modi did not even invite his mother to swearing-in ceremony. So instead of crying abroad he should be a responsible son”
Such is the intellectual bankruptcy that not only does he take a very cheap swipe, he has his facts utterly wrong. Back when Modi was about to be sworn in as PM, media had reported that his mother would not be able to make it because of her poor health. Mind you she is in her 90s and this uncouth Congress lackie found it apt to raise this issue at a press conference just to attack Modi.
Then there were some commentators who lamented that if Modi loves his mother so much why doesn’t he bring her to Delhi, let her live in a palatial home etc. First of all, these are the exact low-lifes who would question such a move as “Modi brings relatives to enjoy on tax-payers money”. Secondly, any son would know the obvious risks in relocating a 95 year old mother. But maybe Modi should have considered such views before he thought about his mother’s well being?
Dear Congress, media and other assorted left liberals, there are plenty of good reasons to attack Modi’s thoughts, views and actions. Basic decency demands that we keep out his aged mother who has nothing to do with politics. But then this would be like pouring water over over-turned buckets, considering your stellar behaviour when attacking Modi for walking away from a forced child marriage, even when his “wife” has no complains about him.
