Sam Pitroda, chairperson of the Indian Overseas Congress and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his Diwali and Gujarati New Year greetings and wished him healthy years ahead. The exchange took place on social media on Thursday, 13 November 2025, and was reported through an interview Pitroda gave to IANS.
Pitroda replied to Modi's festive message on X, returning the warm wishes. Modi had earlier posted greetings addressed to Pitroda and his wife, Anjana, and his post included a clip of Pitroda's IANS interview. Pitroda's response was a personal acknowledgement of that gesture rather than a statement on policy, and it was the interview clip that carried his remarks about the prime minister to a wider audience.
In the interview, Pitroda described Modi as a Gujarati friend whom he respects. He said that he and his wife had met the prime minister several times and that he had visited Modi's residence in Gujarat on more than one occasion. Pitroda characterised Modi as warm, kind and caring on a personal level, and presented these meetings as the basis of a relationship that predates his present political role in opposition.
Pitroda is also one of the more outspoken critics of the BJP-led government at the Centre. He said that he has issues with Modi's worldview and disputes the ideology the prime minister represents, which he framed as opposed to ideas he holds. Even so, he said, a person can disagree on politics and still share a meal with the prime minister. He thus placed his personal regard for Modi on one side of a line and his political opposition on the other, without suggesting that the two cancel each other out.
The exchange is a small illustration of how senior figures from opposing parties sometimes keep personal courtesies apart from public contests. Festive greetings between political rivals are a long-standing feature of Indian public life, particularly around Diwali, when leaders routinely send wishes across party lines. Pitroda's remarks made clear that his criticism of the government stands, even as he acknowledged the greetings and the personal relationship that, in his account, has survived years of political difference.
The episode also shows how a personal exchange can become political material. Modi's decision to share Pitroda's interview clip placed the Congress leader's comments in front of the prime minister's audience, while Pitroda's reply carried the exchange back to his own. The two posts, read together, present a cordial tone alongside a clear statement of disagreement, and neither side has tied the greetings to any change in policy or party position.
Source: socialnews.xyz
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