Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 23: The United States president Donald Trump termed India’s air quality as “filthy” giving an opportunity to the Congress to hit out at the prime minister Narendra Modi and his BJP which “boast” of Modi – Trump friendship.
In the final presidential debate on Thursday night ahead of the election on November 3, President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden touched on various issues, but his comment on India’s air quality to defend his government’s decision to walk out of the international Paris accord to curb carbon emissions caused discomfiture to a plenty of Indian-Americans living in the US.
During the final presidential debate, Trump accused China, India and Russia of not taking care of their “filthy air,” while justifying America’s withdrawal from the “unfair” Paris climate agreement which was signed in 2016.
“Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s filthy. The air is filthy,” Trump said. “I walked out of the Paris Accord as we had to take out trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly,” he added.
On his part, Biden, however, gave a more matured response to Trump’s comment. “Climate change was a ‘threat to humanity’ and we have a ‘moral obligation’ to deal with it,” Biden said disagreeing with the Trump government’s decision to dump the Paris accord.
It was not the first time that Trump has raised accusing finger against India during the presidential elections campaign. Just before he himself became a Corona victim, Trump had doubted India’s official death figure in the pandemic. He had also questioned India’s tariff rates in bilateral trade and had always been bracketing India with China and Russia for all the ills the world faced.
Seizing the opportunity, the Congress hit out at the ruling party questioning if Modi’s much-trumpeted “Howdy Modi” gathering at Houston, Texas in September, last year, and its home version “Namaste Trump” in Ahmedabad in February, this year, had caused the anti-India tirades by the US president.
The Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Jaiveer Shergill linked Trump’s outbursts against India to the “Howdy Modi” event that was attended by about 50,000 people of Indian origin from across the US. Both Modi and Trump had addressed the gathering.
“Fruits of Friendship. 1) Questions India’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) death toll. 2) Says India sends dirt up into the air. India’s ‘air is filthy’. 3) Called India ‘tariff king’. The result of ‘Howdy Modi’ !” Sibal tweeted.
Shergill, too, hit out at the government for not responding to Trump’s accusation. “BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) foreign policy trump card is boasting about Modi-Trump friendship and President Trump’s election card seems to be berating India. Not naming China when they trespass and not responding to Trump when he labels India’s air ‘filthy’ is the BJP’s version of nationalism!! Howdy punctures 56 inches (of Modi’s chest),” the Congress spokesperson tweeted.
