P Chidambaram mocks PM Modi after Trump says India does not disclose its number of Covid-19 deaths
The senior Congress leader asked if Modi will hold another ‘Namaste Trump’ rally to honour his dear friend.
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Modi, two days after United States President Donald Trump claimed that India, China and Russia do not reveal the real number of deaths in their countries due to the coronavirus.
“Donald Trump clubs India with China and Russia and accused the three countries of hiding the number of Covid-19 deaths,” Chidambaram tweeted in Hindi. “He also accused the three countries of causing the most air pollution. Will Modi hold another ‘Namaste Trump!’ rally to honour his dear friend?”
Chidambaram was referring to the “Namaste Trump” rally held by Modi and Trump in Ahmedabad in February, during the American president’s visit to India.
“When you talk about numbers, you don’t know how many people died in China, you don’t know how many people died in Russia, you don’t know how many people died in India,” Trump told his Democratic opponent Joe Biden during the first presidential debate on September 29. “They don’t exactly give you [a] straight count.
Trump made the remarks after Biden pointed out that the United States has over 70 lakh cases and 2 lakh deaths, by far the highest in the world. India’s coronavirus tally on Thursday rose to 63,12,584 as the health ministry reported 86,821 new cases in the last 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 1,181 to 98,678. India’s recovery rate is 83.33%, while the death rate stood at 1.57%.
Trump also brought up India when asked about climate change, and mentioned China and Russia. “China sends up real dirt into the air. Russia does. India does. They all do,” he said, defending the US’s 2017 withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.