Assure if omission of 80 mn in Ayodhya speech is inadvertent: Tharoor to PM

'A correction would be reassuring,' says Congress MP about PM congratulating '1.3 billion Indians'

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said the Prime Minister congratulated 1.3 billion Indians during the Ram temple 'bhoomi pujan' but India's population is over 1.38 billion and the omission of 80 million people was worrying to many after the Citizenship Amendment Act and talk of National Register of Citizens.

He also said that if the "omission" was inadvertant, "a correction would be reassuring".

"PM Modi congratulated 130 crore Indians when he spoke at the RamMandir yesterday. But India's population is estimated at 1,38,00,04,385 in mid-2020, according to UN data," Tharoor said in a tweet.

"An omission of 8 crore people is worrying to many, after CAA/NRC. If inadvertent, a correction would be reassuring," he said.

In his address on the occasion of laying of the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Modi said on Wednesday that several generations have made self-less sacrifices for several centuries for the construction of the Ram Temple.

"I, on behalf of the 130 crore people of the country, salute them and bow before them for their sacrifices which have led to the foundation of the Ram Temple," he had said.