'Thick skinned' PM refusing to heed sanity: Congress

In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remark on 'intolerance' in UK, the Congress party on Friday said the statement showed his characteristic 'doublespeak and hypocrisy' and accused him of refusing to listen to voices of sanity.

"PM Modi is responsible for tarnishing India's image. What he spoke in London was his characteristic, doublespeak and hypocrisy...He is so thick-skinned and hidebound that he refuses to listen to voices of sanity and words of caution," Congress leader Anand Sharma told the media here.

He said that Prime Minister Modi should make 'serious' amends to safeguard the pluralistic character of India instead of making wrong statements.

Alleging that intolerance was rising under NDA rule, Sharma urged Prime Minister Modi to reign in RSS and ministers of his cabinet who had made incendiary comments in the past.

Talking about Prime Minister Modi's scheduled address to the Indian diaspora at the Wembley Stadium today, he said, "I'm sure this evening he will be melodramatic and say things which we find objectionable."

Addressing the issue of 'intolerance' in India in UK, Prime Minister Modi had earlier said that India was the land of Gandhi and Buddha, and intolerance would not be tolerated at any cost.

"Any event in any corner of India - it doesn't matter if there are even one or two incidents - we will not tolerate it and the law will deal with it strictly. It does not matter whether such an incident is significant for a country of 125 crore people. For us, every incident is serious. We will not accept anything that goes against our social values," Prime Minister Modi had said in his statement.