Congress leaders criticize Obama's remarks on Rahul Gandhi

After Rahul Gandhi was referred to as a 'nervous' leader by former US President Barack Obama in his book, the Congress chose not to comment on it officially, though party leaders criticized Obama.

New Delhi: After the former US President Barak Obama described Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as "nervous" or a "student who is eager to impress" but lacks in "aptitude or passion", Congress refused to officially comment upon the matter but the other party members showed outrage over the statement.

In an official stand of the party, Congress General Secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, "May I humbly remind certain overzealous sense of media running a sponsored agenda at we don't comment on the individual's views in a book. In the past, a leader has been called 'psychopath' and 'master divider' by people and Agencies. We didn't acknowledge such comments."

He said in another tweet, "May I remind media Trends that in past too, a sitting President had made uncharitable remarks about a sitting woman PM of India. INC and its government continued to work in National interest unfazed and Bangladesh and Green Revolution happened. INC shall continue to serve similarly."

While on the other side, many Congress leaders raised objection over the statement of Barak Obama.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Congress leader Udit Raj said, "Practically, no one can judge a personality of any person in 5 to 10 minutes. Rahul Gandhi was the one who warned about coronavirus pandemic in the month of February. He had said that there will be an economic tsunami, he asked the government to give money directly in the hands of poor people. So, whatever Obama has stated about Rahul Gandhi is wrong."

"Obama will soon realize his mistake. He was wrong while judging the personality of Rahul Gandhi ji. He will bite the dust just wait for some time," he further added.

In a series of tweets, Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnan launched a sharp attack against the former US President by calling him a "Bhakt" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also tweeted, "How Obama got to know that Rahul Gandhi is an 'incompetent' and 'nervous' student? Was he in the same class?"

"Those who speak the truth are 'incompetent' and those who lie are 'competent'? Calling Rahul Gandhi 'incompetent', Obama has hurt the sentiments of crores of Congress workers who consider Rahul Gandhi as God," he said.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore rather chose to unfollow Obama on Twitter and even asked others to do the same, saying that his judgement of an Indian politician is not acceptable by a "true Indian".

He stated, "I decided to unfollow Barak Obama whom I followed since 2009. The reason is, his judgement about Indian political leaders and words against them, can not be acceptable by any true Indian. Will you also unfollow him?"

Obama, in his newly published political memoir "A Promised Land", has drawn sketches of some leaders including former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

While praising Dr Manmohan Singh for having a kind of "impassive integrity" and Sonia Gandhi for her "beauty", Obama mentioned about Rahul Gandhi for having a "nervous, unformed quality".

Meanwhile, Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over Obama's comment, saying that there is "nothing more to discuss" about the Congress leader's intelligence after a "big figure" like Barak Obama gave his views upon it.

"Rahul Gandhi should know that the respect he was getting in India, has turned global," he said.

When asked about his statement, Udit Raj replied to ETV Bharat, "What ability Giriraj Singh has, we all know about it. What else can we expect from him?"