Mumbai: Former American tennis player Martina Navratilova has responded to the recent statements made by Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah praising PM Narendra Modi for his leadership.
She tweeted by taking a dig at the statement and writing, “And for my next joke…,” while quoting Shah’s statement.
Indians are enjoying her joke and her tweet has gone viral.
It all started when Shah, in an interview with Sansad TV, said that PM Modi was not a dictator but a democratic leader. Shah even praised the PM’s leadership style and listening skills and said, “I have never seen such a good listener as PM Narendra Modi. He listens to everyone, gives importance to the quality of the suggestion(s), rather than the person who has suggested it, and then takes a decision. The final decision rests with him, but of course, he is the Prime Minister.”
These statements by the Home Minister quickly made the headlines, and even Navratilova noticed them and responded with the above tweet.
Modi considers the value of the person’s opinion, and not the person’s importance or lack thereof; so, there’s no truth to the charges that he is dictatorial, Shah had said.
Shah’s comments were part of an interview he gave to Sansad TV.
The legendary star of yesteryears, the winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, has a track record of taking on Modi government’s policies, including calling out the Trump-Modi bonhomie, Assam’s NRC exercise, and the govt’s stand on JNU.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah strongly defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi from a suggestion that he was at times dictatorial or autocratic, saying that in his decades-long association, he had “not seen a listener like Modi ji”.
“All these people who are accusing us, these accusations are baseless. I have not seen a listener like Modi ji. If there is a meeting for any problem, Modi ji talks less and patiently listens to everyone and then takes a decision. We often think ‘what is there to think so much?’. He takes a decision patiently after 2-3 meetings,” he said in response to a question during an interview to the state-run Sansad TV channel.
“Every person’s suggestion based on its quality is given importance by Modi ji and not based on who the person is. So, saying that he imposes his decisions as PM is not true at all. Whoever has worked with him, even the critics would agree that the cabinet has never functioned in such a democratic manner,” he said.
Both from Gujarat, PM Modi and Amit Shah have worked closely since their early days in the BJP and its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS. Considered to be the Prime Minister’s closest confidante and strategist, Amit Shah has held executive portfolios in the Gujarat government when PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
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