Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused Congress leaders of putting the lives of Indians in the Middle East at risk by making dangerous remarks.While addressing a rally in poll-bound Kerala’s Thiruvalla, the Prime Minister alleged that Congress wants Gulf countries to consider India as their enemy amid the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.“The Congress wants the West Asian countries to consider India as their enemy, that we should make some mistake here, give some statement like that, and trouble befalls Indians living in the Gulf countries, so the Congress is giving statements that anger the Gulf countries,” PM Modi said.“The Congress wants panic to spread, and for it to get a chance to hurl abuses at Modi. I want to tell the people of Congress, LDF, UDF that politics has its place, elections will come and go, but for me, the safety of the lakhs of Keralites there is the priority, and I am committed to that,” he added.PM Modi, however, cited India’s good relations with Middle Eastern countries and said that Gulf governments consider Indians as their family.“It’s a good thing our friendship is strong, that all the Gulf governments consider all our Indians as their own family and protect them,” PM Modi said.“But here, such language is being spoken. I’ve grown tired of telling them that this is not the time to speak like this. The safety of our millions of brothers and sisters living there is our sole responsibility. So stop speaking nonsense, so that our young people, our daughters, face no trouble there,” he added.The Centre has been monitoring the situation since the beginning of the conflict. Earlier, PM Modi also chaired a meeting with chief ministers and lieutenant governors of all states and union territories to review the situation.Additionally, the government has also formed an inter-ministerial committee, with defence minister Rajnath Singh as the chair, to monitor the situation.Polling for the 2026 Kerala legislative assembly elections is scheduled to be held on April 9, while the counting of votes will take place on May 4. The tenure of the current assembly is set to end on May 23.
