Analysing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to the US, the Congress on Wednesday needled him, calling the outcome of his much hyped visit as 'disappointing', and added that there were no major takeaways.
"When you look at the outcome it is definitely disappointing, there are no major takeaways of this much hyped visit. An atmosphere was created that where individuals who are mature also got excited. To an extent that everybody started believing that the world is going to change with the achievements, that there will be major agreements," Congress leader Anand Sharma said during a press conference here.
Asserting that Make in India was just a repackaged campaign and that he could not manage to get any substantial investments from the US, Sharma said, "I had spoken to you about the Make in India matter, but yet the repackaged and rebranded campaign was believed in and this was not underscored that all this was already done. Now for this manufacturing in India, when we talk of technology collaboration there is nothing which has been said of institutional linkages of investments into India."
" And let me talk of investments I may quickly flag one thing, you saw 35 billion commitment from Japan, 20 billion from China, perhaps the expectations was much more from the United States of America. We will wait and see when all these investment comes in, it's not going to happen in months, it will take years." He added.
He also raised his concern about the Indian currency showing weak in recent times. "The very fact is that our national currency has become volatile and the rupee has fallen by two rupees, against dollar since the change of government, is almost touching 62 to a dollar, that is a matter of concern," he further added.
Sharma also needled the Prime Minister over not being given a chance to speak at the Joint session of Parliament in the U.S which he said must be understood in right perspective.
He claimed that during Prime Minister's speech at the UN there was no presence of two-third of the strength inside the headquarters of the world body. He said that the truth was not being shown as it was projected. He said what mattered was about the presence of official delegation inside the UN when Prime Minister was giving speech and not about cheerleaders outside.
In this regard he gave his suggestion to the Prime Minister saying that diplomacy requires gravitas, comprehension and seriousness to engage with strategic partners in that spirit. One doesnot go there to show through orchestrated events how many cheerleaders one has. No visiting heads of state does that when one comes to India have ever done that, or from India anyone has done so.
The Congress leader also found that the Prime Minister gave too much while he bag anything in return for India, in this regard he mentioned that he went liberal in announcing visa on arrival, while there was no mention of anything on the other hand about the same for IT professionals from India to the US which would have assured the nation.
Sharma also poked holes about totalisation agreement for not being signed during the Prime Minister's visit.
The Congress leader also said that the strategic partnership with the US was not new which had several aspects, one of them being the Nuclear Deal signed way back in 2008. In this regard he pointed how the Prime Minister was showing keen interest about the same when this was opposed by the BJP when the previous UPA government had signed the nuclear deal which led to a parliament vote.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a marathon five-day US trip which he completed yesterday meeting US President Barack Obama where the two leaders reiterated to deepen ties between the two nations. During his Washington led he paid tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian embassy and visited Lincoln memorial and Martin Luther King Junior Memorial.
Besides he also addressed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and gave a speech at the Madison Square Garden organized by Indian Americans.
