The Congress on Thursday questioned the outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s numerous foreign visits and called him an “NRI PM”. As Modi reached New York to kick-start his second visit to the US within one year, the Congress said his overseas trips so far have been “much ado about nothing” and primarily aimed at “self-promotion.” The party’s dig came even as it continued to face barbs and taunts from the BJP on the foreign visits of its vice-president Rahul Gandhi. [related-post] “Showmanship, selfies and self-promotion can never replace diplomacy and delivery. Prime Minister Modi is on another sojourn in his unending quest for personal promotion. He has spent nearly three and a half months out of his 16-month tenure abroad spending nearly Rs 200 crore from the public exchequer,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. “He is on his 29th foreign visit. The Prime Minister will have to explain what the country has gained from these trips. Besides photo-opportunities, selfies, self-aggrandisement, he must explain what did the people of India got in return from these visits,” he added. He said during his visits to China, Japan, South Korea and Germany, promises of billion of dollars of investment were heard. “Where is that investment.We have not seen a single dollar coming.We want to tell the Prime Minister that his visit has to be judged by agenda, vision, understanding and outcomes and not based on self-promotions, selfies and photo opportunities.We hope the PM’s current visit may not become much ado about nothing again,” Surjewala said.
