New Delhi:
Hours after his historic address at the much-anticipated "Howdy Modi" event in Houston, the Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating Indian foreign policy's "time honoured principle", in reference to his remark "Abki Baar Trump Sarkar". Modi, who was accompanied by United States President Donald Trump at the gala diaspora outreach programme, on Sunday gave tacit support for the latter's re-election in 2020 election.
In a series of tweets, Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma claimed that Modi was in the US as India's prime minister, and not a star campaigner for President Trump in the upcoming US elections.
"Mr Prime Minister, you have violated the time-honoured principle of Indian foreign policy of not interfering in the domestic elections of another country. This is a singular disservice to the long-term strategic interests of India," Sharma wrote on Twitter.
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"Our relationship with the United States of America have throughout been bipartisan, vis-a-vis Republicans and Democrats. Your actively campaigning for Trump is a breach of both India and America as sovereign nations and democracies," he added.
Reminding you that you are in the USA as our Prime Minister and not a star campaigner in US elections.
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) September 22, 2019
Another Congress veteran P Chidambaram, who is lodged in Tihar jail in conenction to the INX media case, also hit out at Modi over his "Everything is fine in India" remark in Houston.
"Everything is fne in India (Bharat mai sab achha hai). Except for unemployment, loss of existing jobs, lower wages, mob violence, lockdown in Kashmir and throwing Opposition leaders in prison," Chidambaram tweeted through his family.
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The slogan 'Abki Baar Trump Sarkar' was coined in 2016 by the Republican Hindu Coalition, which supported Trump and campaigned for him among the Indian-Americans. However, by using the 2016 campaign slogan ahead of the next year's presidential elections, many consider it as Modi's apparent endorsement of Trump's candidature for the 2020 polls.
It has been also said that Modi's Sunday pitch in Houston will greatly help the Republican Trump in winning votes of nearly four million Indian-Americans who have traditionally voted for the Democrat Party. Trump, 73, has announced that he will seek a second term at the White House in the 2020 General Elections of the US.
