'Obama praised Manmohan, no mention of Modi'

November 16, 2020 13:59

Former US President Barack Obama's memoirs have "huge praise for Manmohan Singh" but Prime Minister Narendra Modi "is not mentioned by name at all", Congress leader Shashi Tharoor says in a series of tweets.

Tharoor wrote that he had an advance copy of the first of Obama's two-part memoir "A Promised Land", releasing Tuesday and had read every bit on India flagged in the index.

"Big news: There isn't much. Bigger news: in 902 pages, Narendra Modi is not mentioned by name at all," tweeted the Congress MP and former union minister.

"Huge praise for Dr Manmohan Singh who is warmly described as "wise, thoughtful, &scrupulously honest", "a man of uncommon wisdom & decency" with whom he enjoyed "a warm & productive relationship" though MMS was "cautious in foreign policy". His regard & respect shine through."

US President Obama "worries about impulses of violence, greed, corruption, nationalism, racism and religious intolerance," wrote Tharoor as he quoted from the book: "They seemed to lie in wait everywhere, ready to resurface whenever growth rates stalled or demographics changed or a charismatic leader chose to ride the wave of people's fears and resentments. And as much as I might have wished otherwise, there was no Mahatma Gandhi around".

He added: "Difficult to imagine that the Sanghis who have been rejoicing on social media about one sentence in the memoir will draw much comfort from these reflections. They offer a foretaste of what Vol.2 is likely to tell us about India in a post-Manmohan Singh era, when Obama returned."

In India, the book caused a flutter last week a less-than-flattering description of Rahul Gandhi drawing comments from delighted BJP leaders.

"Rahul Gandhi has 'a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who'd done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject'," reported New York Times, quoting from the book. It also excerpts a part that describes Manmohan Singh as having a "kind of impassive integrity".

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Yet Another Honour For Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award at a ceremony in Mumbai's Dinanath Mangeshkar Natyagrih.

High Drama As Campaign Ends In TVM!

As the curtain falls on the campaign for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday, April 24, a ringside view of the closing ceremonies.

Pant hands GT's Mohit unwanted T20 record

Before Pant it was Multan Sultans's Pakistan batter Usman Khan who held the record.

If my unopposed election is death of...: Surat winner

'The Congress is solely responsible for the situation that has arisen in Surat'

M&As pick up pace in Q1

The merger and acquisition (M&As) transactions have picked up pace in the March quarter of 2024 with 455 deals amounting to $25.6 billion deal value announced. This is a 24 per cent rise in deal volume as compared to Q4CY23, according...