PM Modi Deserves Respect When He Represents India Abroad, Says Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is a strong critic of the Modi-led government, on Sunday said that when PM is in the country, people have the right to question him, however, the prime minister deserves respect when he visits foreign countries as he represents India. He was speaking at a session organised by the All India Professional Congress in Pune district of Maharashtra where he said, "The prime minister deserves respect in foreign countries as (there) he is a representative of our nation. But when he is in India, we have the right to ask him questions." This comes days after Tharoor reiterated that PM Modi should not be "criticised over everything."  Earlier on Thursday, the Congress leader has said, "We should not criticise Modi on each and everything. However, being in the Opposition, we need to find out reasons for his return. His percentage of votes shot up from 31 per cent to 37 per cent while our vote percentage went down. His policies such as Swachh Bharat Yojana and Ujjwala Yojana worked well for him. However, in reality, over 65 per cent of these toilets lack water. Here, we need to get into constructive criticism." On the row over a common language for India, the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala said he was in favour of a three-language formula (promoting multilingual communicative abilities). On the issue of one common language in the country, he said the BJP's ideology of promoting Hindi, Hinduism and Hindustan is "dangerous" for our country. "We need to carry on the three-language formula," he said. Also Watch | When PM Modi visited Houston's mini India Amid a heated debate over his remark that Hindi should be a common language, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said he has never asked for imposition of Hindi over native languages in the country but advocated its use as the second language, He criticised the ruling BJP over incidents of mob lynching, saying they are an "insult to Hinduism and Lord Ram". "There is no difference among people (of different communities) living in Kerala. Then why it is happening in Maharashtra," he said. Even Maratha warrior king Shivaji Maharaj had people from different communities under his rule. But he instructed everyone to respect each other, he said. The BJP's idea of Hinduism is a "political ideology" and does not have any connection with Hinduism, the Congress leader said. (With inputs from agencies)