Modi broke democratic tradition of asking, answering questions: Congress

The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of breaking democratic tradition by dodging media questions during his visit to Norway, drawing parallels with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's press conferences.

The Congress on Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking questions from the media during his visit to Norway.

Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, alleged that Prime Minister Modi has broken the democratic tradition of asking and answering questions.

Drawing parallels, he claimed that in the last 12 years, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has held 129 press conferences and answered countless unfiltered questions.

The Congress separately issued a list of all the press conferences that Gandhi addressed.

''The entire country witnessed how our 'teleprompter-jeevi' PM was seen dodging and running away from a mere question on foreign soil. The entire world saw that the head of state of the world's largest democracy is not comfortable facing even a single question,'' Ramesh said in an X post in Hindi.

India has been witnessing this for the last 12 years, he said, referring to a journalist in Norway posing a question to Modi during his bilateral meetings in Norway.

''In India's democracy, the media, the opposition, and various heads of state have always upheld the democratic tradition of asking and answering questions. However, in the last 12 years, this tradition has almost been broken by the prime minister,'' the Congress leader said.

''Despite this, as the leader of India's most prominent opposition party, and giving voice to the hopes and aspirations of millions of people in the opposition, Mr Rahul Gandhi has faced questions on a wide range of issues, questioned the government, and addressed the press,'' Ramesh said.

From 2013 to 2025, Gandhi held 129 press conferences. Furthermore, on numerous occasions, he has directly answered countless unfiltered questions, he added.