PM should think more on domestic issues than foreign affairs: Tarun Gogoi

GUWAHATI: Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his frequent foreign visits, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said a robust foreign policy could sustain itself only on the edifice of a strong domestic policy.

"PM Modi's current concern is all about foreign affairs and speaking out his mind (Mann Ki Baat) to people of foreign countries rather than listening to the voices of the people of the country who have made him the prime minister with high hopes and expectations that 'acche din' would come," Gogoi said in a statement in Guwahati.

"Instead of making grandiose trips abroad, Modi should primarily focus on running the affairs of the country," he said.

Gogoi further said Modi was more focused on foreign policy than concentrating on national issues on which he rode to power.

"The rise in religious intolerance in the country with attempts to curb freedom of expression and the autonomy for educational and other institutions, the present dispensation at the Centre has dented the image of the country like never before," Gogoi said.

Though Modi had been projecting India's inherent strength of 'unity in diversity' abroad, the chilling aspects of this year where religious tolerance was undermined and attempts were made to curb freedom of expression had dented the global image of the country, he said.

He alleged that instead of fulfiling his poll promises of ushering in 'acche din' for 'aam aadmi', Modi was more focused on foreign affairs with numerous visits to abroad.

"The euphoria generated by his (Modi's) election campaign has vanished into thin air with the common people ranging from petty traders to small farmers unhappy with what he has done during the past one-and-a-half year of his tenure as Prime Minister," Gogoi said.