Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'hypocrisy' after he appeared on a podcast with US-based popular podcaster and computer scientist Lex Fridman saying "he is afraid to face any press conference" since 2014.
Several other Congress leaders have also reacted to PM Modi's remarks on various topics including the 2002 Gujarat riots and one of the leaders stated, "The way the PM has tried to justify the Godhra riots shows the failure of Vajpayee government regarding the law and order situation of the country."
PM Modi opened up on a host of foreign affairs issues and also touched on various aspects of his life journey during the podcast.
He praised RSS saying 바카라he felt blessed to have got values from it바카라, lauded Mahatma Gandhi's legacy and speaking on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, PM Modi said, "I have a close relationship with Russia and Ukraine alike. I can sit with President Putin and say that this is not the time for war. And I can also tell President Zelensky, in a friendly way, that brother, regardless of how many people stand with you in the world, there will never be a resolution on the battlefield".
This is the second time PM Modi appeared at a podcast as he had joined Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath's podcast earlier in January, 2025.
Congress Leaders React
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh hit out at the prime minister who stated in the said podcast, "criticism is the soul of democracy" and accused him of "demolishing" institutions that were to hold his government accountable and having gone after critics "with a vengeance".
Ramesh said, "He who is afraid of facing the media in a press conference has found comfort in a foreign podcaster anchored in the rightwing ecosystem."
"And he has the gall to say that 'criticism is the soul of democracy' when he has systematically gutted every institution that is to hold his government accountable and gone after critics with a vengeance that no one in recent history has matched!" Ramesh wrote on X.
"There is no limit to Hypo(d)crisy," the Congress leader said.
Meanwhile othe rCongress leaders also reacted, including Atul Londhe Patil who said, "When will he (PM Modi) hold a press conference? He is possibly the first Prime Minister in the world who has not held a press conference in 11 years of his government."
Congress leader Nana Patole reportedly said, 바카라...He only confuses people. He made several promises but didn바카라t fulfill them. China is occupying our border; he should have spoken about that. The US disrespected our people, and then Modi ji hugged the US President (Donald Trump). He should stop misleading people.바카라
Congress leader Danish Ali told PTI, "The way the PM has tried to justify the Godhra riots shows the failure of Vajpayee government regarding the law and order situation of the country. The way he talked about the Kandahar hijacking, Parliament attack and more, this is, in a way, a condemnation of Vajpayee government."
Former Uttarakhand CM and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat when asked to react to PM Modi's podcast said, "When Godhra incident happened and riots broke out, the scenes were gory. Finally the PM had to ask to uphold 'rajdharma', if anything is wrong, the leader has to take the responsibility, it will always be with a leader. These words of Atalji will keep on echoing in his ears."
Other Leaders React
RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari said, 바카라No one has forgotten the Gujarat riot바카라 PM Modi can say anything now but people of this country know that he didn바카라t do anything for the youth, farmers and common people.바카라
