Country facing challenges; let's have minimum glorification, maximum governance: Congress on PM Modi podcast

The Congress on Monday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his interaction with American podcaster Lex Fridman, saying that at a time when the country is facing grave challenges and the neighbourhood is volatile, there should be "minimum self-glorification and maximum governance". In an interaction lasting over three hours with Fridman, Modi opened up on a host of foreign affairs issues and also touched on various aspects of his life journey.

"Almost a year ago, he said he was non-biological. Now he says that he believes in the 1+1 theory: 1 in Modi and the other 1 is divine," Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

"He is saying these things when the economy is facing grave challenges, our neighbourhood is volatile and the world order is becoming unstable. There should be minimum self-glorification and maximum governance," he said.


During the podcast, Modi also praised the RSS for instilling patriotic values in him, lauded Mahatma Gandhi's legacy and described himself as a peacemaker who has nudged both Russian and Ukrainian leaders to come to the negotiating table.

In a post on Sunday night, Ramesh said there is no limit to Modi's "hypo(d)crisy" as he has not faced a press conference but has found comfort in a US podcaster.

He also hit out at the PM for saying "criticism is the soul of democracy" and accused him of "demolishing" every institution that is to hold his government accountable and having gone after critics "with a vengeance".