The Congress in Goa has formally written to the Guinness World Records (GWR) to include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name in the book for "setting a record of travelling abroad", a party leader said on Wednesday.
"We are overwhelmed and extremely happy to suggest the name of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has set the world record. He has correctly used the resources of India and set the record of making 41 trips to 52 countries in four years. He has already spent Rs 355 crore," read a letter by Goa Congress General Secretary Sankalp Amonkar to the GWR officials in the United Kingdom, which was sent through a registered post.
"He has become a role model for the future generations of India, as no other Prime Minister in the world has travelled across countries during their respective tenures," Amonkar said, adding that during Modi's tenure as Prime Minister the value of the Indian rupee had fallen as low as Rs 69.03 against the US dollar.
"We want to highlight the ridiculousness of the Modi regime, wherein the Prime Minister has spent more time abroad than in India," Amonkar told reporters at the party headquarters here on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister has routinely come under attack from the opposition for his regular foreign trips. An RTI filed by activist Bhimappa Gadad revealed that the government spent Rs 355 crore on the 165 days that he was abroad, comprising of 41 trips.
The highest spending on his trip was during the nine-day tri-nation visit to France, Germany, and Canada. The Prime Minister had visited the three countries between April 9 and April 15 in 2015 and had spent nearly Rs 31,25,78,000. His most inexpensive trip was to Bhutan in 2014 which only incurred expenses of Rs 2,45,27,465.
The RTI asked for details of Modi's domestic trips, but it was not revealed.
