NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit back at the BJP for criticising him for describing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s UN address as a “campaign” speech, saying one cannot hide behind the national flag and use the United Nations as a political platform.
Tharoor also said he felt a “bit rich” to be criticised by the BJP and claimed that Swaraj had mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi 10 times in her speech and spoke about India only five times.
Questioning whether Swaraj’s address was a UN speech or BJP slogans, he said she devoted the first half of her speech mentioning Modi’s vision for a “New India” and discussing programmes as the Swachh Bharat Mission.
“Bit rich to be criticised by the BJP for describing Sushma Swaraj’s speech as a campaign speech. She mentioned Narendra Modi 10 times during her address and spoke about/on behalf of India only five times. If you use the UN as a political platform you can’t hide behind the flag,” Tharoor said on Twitter.
“Most of the first half of the Sushma Swaraj speech was devoted to plugging Narendra Modi’s vision for “New India”: Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat, Samarth Bharat, Surakshit Bharat, Shikshit Bharat, Viksit Bharat, Urjawan Bharat, Shaktiman Bharat. Was this a UN speech or BJP slogans?” he asked. (AGENCIES)
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