PM Modi has been attacked by the opposition for his frequent foreign trips.
For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cost cutting seems the the topmost priority. No wonder, during technical halts in the course of foreign visits, he opts to rest and take a bath at airport terminals instead of staying in luxury five star hotels overnight, Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
"In his personal and public life, PM Modi has followed a very disciplined regimen. For instance whenever PM Modi goes on state visit abroad, he takes less than 20 per cent staff with him. Similarly for the official delegation, he has discouraged using a large number of cars. Earlier officials were using separate cars.... now they use a bus or a large vehicle," he said.
In his reply to the debate on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Mr Shah said that security cover of SPG has been misused or its norms have been violated on several occasions by the Gandhi family but PM Modi, who has been provided state security for the past 20 years, has never flouted the security blue book.
"For some, security cover has been a status symbol. For some, security has become a trivial issue where norms are violated at will. But let's follow the example of Modiji who adheres to the security norms and protocols," the Home Minister said.
When Congress member Gaurav Gogoi said that PM Modi violated the SPG blue book during a seaplane ride in Gujarat in 2017, Mr Shah hit back with a denial/
"The seaplane was thoroughly checked and cleared by the SPG and SPG personnel were deployed inside the seaplane. Besides. the objective of ride was to promote tourism in Gujarat. It was not a personal fun ride," he said.