No need to get hot under the collar over Barack Obama's remarks: Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress today said there was "no need to get hot under the collar" over US President Barack Obama's remarks on "deteriorating" investment climate in India, contending that a mature democracy should take the observations in its stride and move on.

"I think the one thing the world understood in the past 62 years is that whatever decision India takes ...it takes in its own enlightened national interest", party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

He said there was "no need to get hot under the collar" if certain statements are made by certain distinguished people or even if comments are made by certain newspapers and magazines.

"If at all there is any need to clarify, those clarifications have been given.....and I think as a matured democracy we should factor these observations in our striede and move on", Tewari said.

The Congress spokesperson was also critical of the attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a British newspaper close on the heels of an article in the "Time" magazine.

"It is unfortunate that some people misuse the editorial licence. While criticism in democracy is to be taken in one's stride, what needs to be kept in mind is that criticism should not cross the boundaries of decency and start bordering on the offensive", he said.

Opposition parties have lashed out at Obama for his remarks that India prohibits foreign investment in too many sectors, with BJP saying the country cannot open its markets just because the US President wants it.

"If Obama wants FDI in retail and India does not want, then it won't come just because he is demanding it," was the terse reaction of BJP.