Congress leader Shashi Tharoor says Sushma Swaraj’s speech at the UN sounded like BJP slogans
He had earlier had alleged that Swaraj’s speech seemed like it was aimed at BJP voters, prompting criticism from the saffron party.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party for criticising him for describing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s speech at the United Nations as a “campaign speech”. Tharoor said it was a “bit rich” of the BJP to criticise him, as Swaraj had mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi 10 times in her speech, and India just five times.
“If you use the United Nations as a political platform, you can’t hide behind the flag,” Tharoor tweeted. “Most of the first half of the Sushma Swaraj speech was devoted to plugging Narendra Modi’s vision for New India, Swacch Bharat, Swasth Bharat, Samarth Bharat, Surakshit Bharat, Sikshit Bharat, Vikasit Bharat, Urjawan Bharat, Shaktiman Bharat. Was this a UN speech or BJP slogans?”
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? https://t.co/eCzQDDP3P9
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 2, 2018
On Monday, Tharoor alleged that Swaraj’s speech seemed like it was aimed at BJP voters, ANI reported. He said it was disappointing and “failed to project India’s constructive and positive image”.
The BJP attacked Tharoor, claiming that the Congress had defied the convention of all political parties being united on India’s stand abroad, PTI reported. BJP spokesperson Sudanshu Trivedi claimed the Opposition party was speaking the language of Pakistan.