Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Indian National Congress at the NDTV World Summit in New Delhi on Oct. 22, saying its actions harmed India’s standing abroad and put national interests at risk.
Modi used rocket launches from Sriharikota as a comparison for Congress’s efforts to elevate its leader, then questioned how long the party would continue at the expense of the country’s interests. He did not name Rahul Gandhi in that passage. Reports identified Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as the target.
Modi also said some people in India were hoping for disorder and accused Congress of damaging the country’s reputation overseas. He called the party a “parasite” and alleged that people he described with a phrase rendered in some English reports as “dimagi Naxals” were shaping its thinking. English renderings of the phrase differ.
He further charged that Congress silences critics of the government and restricts younger opposition lawmakers’ opportunities to speak in Parliament. Those remarks were allegations by Modi.
The summit’s theme was “A World Between Orders,” and its program listed Modi as the keynote speaker. In his official account of the address, Modi called for changes to multilateral institutions and a greater role for the Global South.
