Reacting to ally Shiv Sena's jibe asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to refrain from "maligning" the country from foreign soil, BJP leader and Union Minister Suresh Prabhu today said Modi is championing the cause of India worldwide and is accepted as a leader in both the East as well as West.
"That is their (Shiv Sena) opinion, the opinion of millions of people in India are different. Mr Modi has been championing the cause of India globally," Prabhu said at a press conference here.
Stating that Prime Minister Modi is respected globally, Railways Minister Prabhu, who hails from Maharashtra, said Modi is respected as a leader both in the developed world as well as in the developing world.
"Mr Modi has been given the rare honour of addressing the joint sitting of US Congress," he said.
"Mr Modi has also been given the highest civilian award of UAE. So we should be proud that our Prime Minister is honoured globally," Prabhu said while commenting on Sena's remarks against Modi in party mouthpiece 'Saamna'.
"He is accepted in the East, he is accepted in the West, he is accepted in the global family," Prabhu, who quit Shiv Sena in 2014 to join BJP, said.
He said Modi is regarded highly among African nations, the Pacific Islands as also in Latin American countries.
Stressing on Modi's importance in the global scenario, Prabhu said US President Barack Obama had called the Indian Prime Minister over phone to seek his views on climate change issues.
Shiv Sena had yesterday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks in Doha about India being plagued by corruption "maligned the nation's image", and questioned if scams in BJP-ruled Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat can be attributed to the Gandhi family.
Since Modi is the face of the nation, other countries may believe what he says about India which in turn might affect the financial condition of the country, an editorial in Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamna' said.
Vowing to root out corruption in India, the Prime Minister had on June 12 said in Doha on the second leg of his five-nation visit that he "faced problems" by depriving many people of their "sweets" and saved over Rs 36,000 crore annually by stopping leakage and theft in government schemes.
