“Rahul Gandhi has a nervous and reportable quality about him,” Obama says in his book “A Promised Land”,
Former US President Barack Obama’s comment that Congressional Leader Rahul Gandhi was like a student who is eager to impress, but lacks the ability to master the issue, prompted a concise response from Congress on Friday. It does not comment on “an individual’s opinion in a book.”
The memoirs of Mr. Obama, A promised land, which was reviewed by The New York Times (NYT), talks about political leaders from around the world, including Mr. Gandhi.
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According to the NYT review, speaking about Mr. Gandhi, the former president wrote that the congressional leader has “a nervous and reportable quality about him, as if he’s a student who has done coursework and is eager to impress the teacher but deep down he lacked the aptitude or passion to master the subject. “
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also find a mention in the memoirs.
“We are told about the beauty of men like Charlie Crist and Rahm Emanuel, but not about the beauty of women, except in one or two cases, as in the case of Sonia Gandhi,” said NYT magazine.
Dr. Singh and former US Secretary of Defense Bob Gates appear to have a kind of impassive integrity, according to the review.
As various broadcasters picked up Obama’s comments on Gandhi, Congressional Chief Spokesman Randeep Surjewala tweeted: “Let me humbly remind some overly enthusiastic friends of the media who run a sponsored agenda that we do not comment on the opinions of people in a book. In the past, a leader has been called a “psychopath” and a “master divider” by people and agencies. We did not acknowledge those comments! “
“May I remind friends in the media that in the past too, a sitting president had made uncharitable comments about a sitting PM from India. INC and its government continued to work in the national interest undeterred and Bangladesh and the Green Revolution ensued. The INC will continue to serve in a similar way, ”he said in another tweet, referring to comments by former US President Richard Nixon against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi without naming them.
While Congress Secretary General Tariq Anwar claimed that Gandhi has evolved, Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore has stopped following Obama on Twitter.
(With PTI inputs)
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