Mumbai: Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Union Minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday demanded that he tender an apology to people of the country, as he did not fulfil the promises he assured to complete in his first 100 days in office.
Sharma, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, accused Modi of depicting a wrong picture of the country to the people.
He also said that the two-thirds of the UN General Assembly was empty during Modi's address.
"Good days" have come for Modi and his government but the society and public are yet to witness such days, he told reporters at a press conference here, adding, "Modi's claim that India has seen an image improvement at international platform due to him, is wrong."
"Modi, who has a dominating style of functioning and has centralised the power, ordered his associates to promote work completed in 100 days. However, the promises he assured to complete were not fulfilled.
"The government was to bring down inflation but no work had started in that direction and it remains intact. There is no significant lift in employment generation," he alleged.
"Modi claimed he will bring back black money which is seven times India's budget. He had claimed that once we get hands on the black money, India did not require to look back for budgets for seven years. Forget seven times, the Modi government did not get even 7 per cent of black money," he said.
The Prime Minister should tender an apology for making false promises and misguiding the people, Sharma said.
Claiming that foreign media did not give significance to PM's US visit, Sharma said, "United Nations has over 170 Prime Ministers and Presidents. When US, France, UK leaders spoke, all were present. But when PM Modi spoke, sadly two third of the seats were vacant."
A group of cheerleaders, Bollywood dance troupes and BJP supporters were flown to the US after a corporate sponsorship, then the people were expected to gather at Madison Square in the US, he alleged.
On the reduction in global oil prices, Sharma said India should reap benefits out of it.
Citing projects like Mangalyaan and "work in Kashmir", Sharma said all had happened due to the decisions made by the previous government, and advised Modi to maintain his office's dignity by giving credit to previous government too.
Criticising the Prime Minister for scrapping the Planning Commission, Sharma said, "There is no co-ordination between states and the Centre. So far, no Chief Ministers' meeting was held to improve co-ordination. And the states are yet to get the importance they should have in drafting plans and policies of the country."
Sharma recalled that BJP senior leader LK Advani had called Modi an event manager. "While BJP veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji was described as an orator, statesman and good communicator, Modi was called as event manager by Advaniji."
He also took a dig at Modi for accidentally calling Mahatma Gandhi "Mohanlal Gandhi".
"Mahatma Gandhi talked of truth, non-violence. October 2 is being observed as International Day of non-violence. But PM could not say single word on it (non-violence)."
"Modi used to raise his voice on Kashmir issue earlier. Firings continue to happen on the border now and jawans are dying. Now he realised that raising voice does not solve serious issues," Sharma said.
"Modi has a policy and attitude of 'I am doing everything.. I, Me and Myself'. He feels his visits to America and Japan materialised because of him, Chinese PM visited India because of him. But India existed even before him becoming the PM," Sharma said.
