Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 15 : Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, while opening up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the United States, said that though there are some important outcomes for the country from the visit, it has to be answered whether the PM raise the issue of the manner in which the Indian nationals were deported from the US.
The Congress leader said that he can't be only praising or criticising every time, and there needs to be some 'give and take' in a democracy.
Speaking to reporters, Tharoor said, "For 16 years, I have been in politics. My attitude has been that when somebody in the government, whether it's our government or some other party's government, does the right thing or does something well, one should acknowledge and praise it, and when they do something badly, one should criticise it."
"If I were to praise all the time, no one would take me seriously. If I were to criticise all the time, no one would take me seriously either...There's got to be some give and take in democracy," he added.
He further questioned why the issue of illegal immigrants was not addressed and whether Prime Minister Modi raised the issue behind closed doors.
"What I found with some of the important outcomes of Prime Minister Modi's visit with US President Trump is that there are good things from the point of view of the Indian people. There are some questions that still remain...Why did the question of the way in which those illegal immigrants were returned to India not get addressed?...Did PM Modi raise it behind closed doors?" the former diplomat further said.
PM Modi recently travelled to the US for a two-day visit at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. This was PM Modi's first visit to the United States after Donald Trump assumed office for the second term, and he was among the first few world leaders to visit the US following Trump's inauguration.
The issue of illegal immigration featured in the discussion there, as Prime Minister Modi reiterated India's stand that it is ready to take back the Indian nationals, who allegedly entered the US illegally.
The PM also called for attacking the whole ecosystem behind human trafficking, which leads to cases of illegal immigration.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri highlighted that both PM Modi and President Trump reaffirmed their commitment to streamlining legal mobility avenues for students, professionals, and short-term visitors, while also agreeing to "aggressively" address illegal immigration and human trafficking.
Notably, on February 5, a US Air Force plane carrying Indian citizens who "illegally immigrated" to the US arrived in Amritsar, Punjab. A total of 104 Indian nationals were on board the plane that landed in Amritsar.
Speaking further, Shashi Tharoor welcomed the trade deal with the United States and termed it as an achievement of PM Modi's visit, stating that unilateral tariffs from the US could have damaged Indian exports.
"I welcome the fact that there is now an agreement to have a negotiation for the next 9 months on trade and tariffs. It's far better than Washington hastily and unilaterally imposing some tariffs on us, which could have damaged and hurt our exports. It seems to me that something good has been achieved, and I applaud that as an Indian," the Congress MP said.
"We can't always speak only in terms of party interests. I am not a party spokesman. I am an MP elected by all the people of Thiruvananthapuram, and on that basis, I speak as a responsible stakeholder in Indian democracy," he added.