NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday upped his ante against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, saying her UN speech was an attempt to promote PM Narendra Modi.
“Most of the first half of the @SushmaSwaraj speech was devoted to plugging @narendramodi's vision for ‘New India’: SwachhBharat, SwasthBharat, SamarthBharat, SurakshitBharat, ShikshitBharat, ViksitBharat, UrjawanBharat, ShaktimanBharat. Was this a @un speech or BJP slogans?” Tharoor, who had targeted the minister on Sunday, tweeted.
The Congress leader's attack on the minister is in line with his party's position that the Centre lacks a coherent policy on Pakistan.
Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, noted that the Foreign Minister mentioned Modi 10 times and spoke about India only five times in her speech. “Bit rich to be criticised by the BJP for describing @SushmaSwaraj's UN speech as a campaign speech. She mentioned @narendramodi 10 times during her address & spoke about/ on behalf of India only 5 times. If you use the @UN as a political platform you can't hide behind the flag,” he tweeted.
The minister's address at the United Nations General Assembly ‘disappointed’ Tharoor, who felt that all the Pakistan bashing in New York was aimed at the BJP voters. His other objection to her speech on Saturday was that it didn't portray India in a good light.
“One can fully appreciate and welcome some of the things that Sushmaji said, but some other things were actually disappointing,” he said.
On Sunday, the Thiruvavanathpuram MP slammed the Foreign Minister, saying her strong attack on Pakistan was aimed at addressing the BJP voters. “We get the sense that everything is about the political environment in India, and this was a speech aimed at the BJP voters and sending a message to them particularly on the subject of Pakistan rather than projecting a positive and constructive image of India in the world,” he had said.