Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday hit out at External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid over the latter`s statement that BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi cannot be the brand of ambassador of India.
Speaking to a news channel today, the BJP leader said, “Salman Khurshid`s statement on BJP`s PM candidate Narendra Modi is disgraceful.”
“Hope US will apply uniform standards of human rights in dealing with Modi. He cannot be the brand ambassador of India who can sell India`s growth story to the west,” Khurshid today said while talking to a news channel.
He added that in the past, India was lectured by a number of countries on human rights and it would be interesting to "know what Powell tells Modi."
US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell is likely to meet Narendra Modi, signaling a shift in America`s stand towards the BJP`s PM candidate in connection with 2002 Gujarat riots, a PTI report said.
Further while taking a dig at Narendra Modi, Khurshid said, "Narendra Modi can`t represent Indian values. We are a country that believes in Gandhian way of life, compassion, service without recognition and none of these terms applies to Modi."
Meanwhile, External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said it was normal for foreign embassies to make a request for facilitating meetings with "constitutionally-elected functionaries" of India.
The Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP)-US president Chandrakant Patel welcomed the decision taken by the Obama Administration in this regard.
"We highly appreciate the decision taken by US President Barack Obama, and Secretary of State John Kerry. This would further help in strengthening of Indo-US relationship," Patel said.
"Modi is the most popular leader of the country right now. Given that he has been given clean chit by all the courts in India, it was not fair on the part of the US to not to have relationship with Modi," he added.
In 2005, the US State Department had revoked a visa that Modi had for travelling to the US in the wake of the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
