Rahul Gandhi takes dig at ‘Howdy Modi’

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Howdy Modi” event in the United States that will be attended by US President Donald Trump, saying investors do not come by sponsoring events abroad.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Mr Modi’s event, saying what India needs is not propaganda, manipulated news cycles and foolish theories about millennials, but a concrete plan to fix the economy.

He took to Twitter to say this ahead of Mr Modi’s visit to the United States, where he will address Indian Americans at the “Howdy Modi” event. US President Donald Trump will join Mr Modi at the event in Houston.

“‘Howdy’ economy doin’, Mr Modi? Ain’t too good it seems,” he said on Twitter, using the hashtag “HowdyEconomy”.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too attacked the government over the state of the economy, saying the confidence of investors is “shaken” but the Modi dispensation is refusing to acknowledge the truth.

She also cited a media report which claimed that after pouring $45 billion into India’s stock market over the past six years on hopes that Mr Modi would unleash the country’s economic potential, international money managers have sold $4.5 billion of Indian shares since June.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programme in the United States, she added, “By showing glitter, saying 5 trillion, 5 trillion, everyday or by doing media’s headline management, economy cannot be improved. Investors do not come by sponsoring events abroad.”

“But the BJP government is refusing to acknowledge this truth. This slowdown is a speed breaker in the direction of becoming an economic superpower. Without improving this situation, all other razzmatazz is useless,” said another tweet.

The Congress has upped the ante against the Narendra Modi government after the economy hit a six-year low growth rate. The party alleged that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was “clueless” in dealing with  slowdown and termed the steps announced by her to boost the economy as “cosmetic” and “piecemeal”.