'Laughable,' BJP rubbishes Congress criticism of Modi's Trump 'pitch'

New Delhi: BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Monday rubbished Congress’ allegation that the Prime Minister breached the ''honoured principle of Indian foreign policy'' during the 'Howdy Modi' event in Houston on Sunday.

The Congress critiqued Modi’s speech as a virtual electoral campaign for US President Donald Trump.

Reacting to this, Madhav said India's ruling party does not need lessons from the Congress on democracy and bipartisanship.

Soon after the Texas event, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma accused PM Modi of campaigning for Trump, thereby, violating the policy of not interfering in domestic elections of another country.

Sharma tweeted that India's ''relationship with the United States of America has throughout been bipartisan, vis-à-vis Republicans and Democrats'' and reminded Modi that he was ''in the USA as our Prime Minister and not (as) a star campaigner in the US elections''.

Madhav told News18: "This is laughable criticism. There is no real depth. PM Modi was only reciprocating what Trump had said before the 2014 elections. Trump had said ‘Agli Baar Modi Sarkar’… so Modi used the same line by saying ‘Agli Baar Trump Sarkar’. It's not an interference in the democratic process of America. We respect the American leadership choice. We don't need lessons on democracy and bipartisanship from Congress."

In an unprecedented and bold gesture, Trump came to Houston on Sunday to join Modi at the largest-ever gathering of Indian-Americans in the US.

The two leaders addressed a crowd of over 50,000 members of the Indian diaspora.

America is set to go to polls next year.