The Congress has termed the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “disappointing.” The party said there were no major takeaways of the “much-hyped” visit.

Party spokesperson Anand Sharma said people were made to believe that there will be major agreements and big changes in Indo-US relations. “We will wait and see when all these investments come in. It is not going to happen in months, it will take years. But the very fact is that out national currency has become volatile again and the rupee has fallen against the dollar since the change in the Government. That is a matter of concern,” he said.

Sharma added there were just 18,000 people at the Madison Square Garden and it was not a big thing. “They were not poor. They had booked seats at $5,000-10,000 per seat. Who will not come if you have the best of artistes, dancers and musicians from India performing?” he asked. “To have a gathering of 18,000 people is no big thing, when 3 million people of Indian origin live in the US, when definitely a sizeable population of cheerleaders went from India,” he added.

Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh said the Prime Minister must spell out to the nation what was new and what he had achieved for the country from the US visit.

“Hype and hyperbole apart, the Indo-US strategic partnership is a long and continuous process and it would be wrong to relate it with one single event or one single visit of a Prime Minister to that country,” he said.

Singh said as the dust starts to settle down over the Prime Minister’s recent US visit, it emerges that at best Modi has been able to get a commitment over the continuation of the strategic partnership between India and the US built by the UPA Government.

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