P Chidambaram took a swipe at PM Modi over Donald Trump's statements on India.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram this morning asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold another 'Namaste Trump!' rally to honour his dear friend", a day after the American President raised questions over the credibility of India's COVID-19 tally, claiming that it was among the countries that do not accurately disclose the number of deaths due to the pandemic. Mr Trump also referred to India over climate change, saying it is one of the countries that "sends up real dirt into the air".
"Mr Donald Trump clubs India with China and Russia and accused the three countries of hiding the number of COVID deaths. He also accused the three countries for causing the most air pollution. Will Mr Modi hold another 'Namaste Trump!' rally to honour his dear friend?" Mr Chidambaram tweeted.
During the first round of the US Presidential debate, Mr Trump defended his response against coronavirus, which has affected over seven million people in the country, as Democratic challenger Joe Biden said: "Seven million (have) contracted the virus. The President has no plan."
"When you talk about due the numbers, you don't know how many people died in China. You don't know how many people died in Russia. You don't know how many people died in India. They don't exactly give you a right number. Just so you understand," Mr Trump said during the fiery debate.
Mr Trump has repeatedly blamed China, where the coronavirus first emerged in December last year and spread around the world, killing over one million and infecting more than 30 million people.
Mr Trump mentioned India for a second time during the debate. Speaking about climate change and justifying his administration's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, he attacked Mr Biden when he said he would rejoin the deal on climate change, if elected to power.
Mr Trump said, "Why didn't he do it? For 47 years, you were vice president why didn't you get the world. China sends up real dirt into the air, Russia does, India does, they all do. We are supposed to be good and by the way, he made a couple of statements. The Green New Deal is $100 trillion not $20 billion."