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‘PM Modi takes everything personally’: Congress' Kharge over India-Maldives row
Mallikarjun Kharge also urged for having good relations with the neighbouring nations.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday reacted to the ongoing diplomatic tensions with Maldives over derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the latter takes everything 'personally' after he came to power in 2014.
"After Narendra Modi came to power, he is taking everything personally. At the international level, we should keep a good relationship with our neighbours...We should act according to time...We cannot change our neighbours..." news agency ANI quoted Kharge as saying.
The party president also urged for having good relations with the neighbouring nations.
However, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar came out in support of PM Modi and condemned the derogatory remarks. He said that one should respect the prime minister's post and any such comments won't be accepted.
“He is the Prime Minister of our country and if anyone from any other country holding any position makes such comments on our PM, we won't accept it. We must respect the PM's post. We won't accept anything against the Prime Minister from outside the country,” ANI quoted Pawar as saying.
A controversy was erupted after three Maldivian leaders Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, made derogatory remarks against PM Modi and mocked his recent visit to Lakshadweep.
India strongly raised the matter with Male and the island nation's top opposition leaders slammed the ruling establishment over the row. Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed also denounced the comments as "appalling" against PM Modi.
In a now-deleted post, Shiuna made a mocking and disrespectful reference to PM Modi. A council member Zahid Rameez also mocked the Indian leader. The remarks triggered a furious response in India, with the Maldives government rejecting the derogatory remarks, stating that they did not represent the views of Male.
Last week, the Maldivian government also suspended three deputy ministers who made the derogatory social media posts against PM Modi.
On January 2, PM Modi visited the union territory and shared several pictures, including an 'exhilarating experience' of him trying his hand at snorkelling. In his visit to Lakshadweep, he also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several development projects worth more than ₹1,150 crore.
(With inputs from ANI)
