Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the ‘Howdy,Modi’ programme, saying US President Donald Trump’s “first gift” after the “mega event” is his offer to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. A day after the event in Houston, Trump said on Monday that he was ready to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir issue if both sides agree as he described himself as “an extremely good arbitrator”. Trump made the remarks during his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York. India maintains that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one and no third party has any role in it. Reacting to the development, Moily said, “After the mega event at Houston in Texas on Sunday, called ‘Howdy,Modi’, set as a launch pad for the forthcoming election of Trump, Donald Trump’s first gift offered to Modi is to negotiate (between) Pakistan and India on Kashmir.” India expected an announcement such as relaxation of trade barriers on import of goods from India and H1B visas to Indian citizens, he said in a statement. The people of India are totally disappointed with the Prime Minister’s visit, the former Union minister said. “Narendra Modi has been reluctant to visit the flood areas in Karnataka, Maharashtra and other states in the country and has not released a single paise to the flood victims of Karnataka who are confronted with unprecedented floods and loss of lives and livelihood,” he alleged. Modi could have at least made an appeal to the NRIs in the US and elsewhere to contribute generously for flood relief, Moily said. “The mega event was politically unwise and most undiplomatic in the history of the foreign policy of India,” he alleged. “It is because of an aggressive diplomatic stand of Trump on Iran and on some Arab countries, the oil prices are rising day by day and the US mega event in Houston is totally counterproductive which gave clean chit to the US which caused misery to India,” Moily said.
