Modi presenting ‘shining India’, Congress ‘shames’ India: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday latched on to reports of Wal-Mart paying “suspected bribery” in India to attack the Congress, saying that the party continues to “shame” India abroad while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working hard to present a “shining India” to the world.

The BJP alleged that bribes totalling millions of dollars were paid between 2007 and 2012 by the world’s largest retailer to secure its entry in the country, and suggested that they played a role in the then Congress-led UPA government enacting a law that opened the domestic retail market to international brands.

“Modi is presenting shining India to the world. But we continue to have scams of Congress era surface and it is damaging brand India. They have lost power but they continue to shame India abroad with their exploits. Congress is damaging brand India,” BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.

Congress had become synonymous with corruption and the (Indian National Congress) for common people was India’s Naturally Corrupt party, he said. He suggested that over Rs 125 crore spent by the US company in lobbying in India played a role in Congress changing its stand after party chief Sonia Gandhi had written to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, expressing concerns over the opening of domestic retail market to global brands and asking him to put in place safeguards for local retailers.