Congress refuses to comment on Obama statement; party leaders target former US president

New Delhi, November 13

After Rahul Gandhi was referred to as a 'nervous' leader by former US President Barack Obama in his book, the Congress chose not to comment on it officially, though party leaders on Friday criticized Obama.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "May I humbly remind certain overzealous friends of the media running a sponsored agenda that we don't comment on the individual's views in a book." "In the past, a leader has been called "psychopath" and "master divider" by people and agencies. We didn't acknowledge such comments!" he added.

May I humbly remind certain overzealous friends of the Media running a sponsored agenda that we don’t comment on individual’s views in a book.

In the past, a Leader has been called ”psychopath” and “master divider” by people and agencies. We didn’t acknowledge such comments!

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 13, 2020

Though other Congress leaders have objected to it.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi like a student eager to impress his teacher, says Barack Obama in his new book

"Mr Obama, no one can know the personality of any person in 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes it takes years. You are wrong to judge the personality of Rahul Gandhi ji. You will bite the dust just wait for some time," said Udit Raj, a party spokesperson.

Congress leader Archana Dalmia in a tweet said, "We don't need a Barack Obama to pass a judgment on 'Our Leader' Rahul Gandhi."

While Acharya Pramod Krishnan has been more critical of Obama, he said, "He has hurt the sentiments of crores of Congress workers who consider Rahul Gandhi as God."

We don’t need a @BarackObama to pass a judgment on “Our Leader” @RahulGandhi !

— Archana Dalmia (@ArchanaDalmia) November 13, 2020

He attacked Obama and said, "Those who speak truth are incompetent and those who speak lies are competent "and how did Obama knew that he is a bad student, was he with him in the class. Krishnan termed Obama an "andh bhakt".

Rahul Gandhi had met Obama on many occasions, the first one was in November 2010 when Rahul Gandhi was the General Secretary of the party. And second, was when Obama visited India in 2017 said sources.

Former US president Barack Obama's new book 'A Promised Land' lands a sharp left hook on Rahul Gandhi's "nervous, uninformed quality" while directing warm, not-so-political praise at Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi, according to a book review Thursday in the New York Times.

The first rush of book excerpts swirling on the internet point to a brutal takedown of Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi has a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who'd done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject," notes the review.

--IANS