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A first time, says Rahul on Obama's praise for Modi

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IANS New Delhi
Last Updated : Apr 22 2015 | 3:42 PM IST

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday mentioned US President Barack Obama's praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the latest issue of Time magazine and called it a "first time".

The Congress vice president, speaking as soon as zero hour began in the lower house, said: "I was at the Congress president's (Sonia Gandhi) house and I saw Time magazine... Obama ji has written a long article praising Modi."

"It is perhaps first time in 60 years the US president has praised someone like this," he said.

"Obama is not a small man... World's biggest industrialists are in the US...Earlier, the US presidents used to praise (former USSR leader Mikhail) Gorbachev," he said.

Obama wrote a profile of Modi, titled 'India's reformer-in-chief', for Time magazine.

He wrote that Modi's life story - his rise from poverty to become India's prime minister - is symbolic of the country's dynamism and potential.

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Even though the Gandhi scion felt it was the first time an Indian prime minister has been praised by a US president, Obama has earlier heaped praise on former prime minister Manmohan Singh as well.

In June 2010, at the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada, Obama had praised Manmohan Singh as a statesman and said: "I can tell you that here at G20, when the prime minister speaks, people listen.

In a telephonic conversation with Singh whose tenure was about to get over, Obama had said, "I will miss working with you and hope to see you soon."

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First Published: Apr 22 2015 | 3:36 PM IST

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