After Irish children sing shlokas, PM takes a dig at 'secular' Indians

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a warm welcome by the Irish authorities and citizens as he arrived there for a brief visit on 23 September. In Dublin, he started his speech to the Indian diaspora by apologising for not being able to spend more time with them.

The Irish children sang Sanskrit Shlokas for him and Modi appeared impressed by the presentation. After that, he spoke to the people and said, "If this had happened in India, some people would have questioned the secularism."

Irish bachhe Sanskrit mein mantrochaar kar rhe hain, swaagat gaan ga rhe hain,wo ratterataaye shabd bol rhe the aisa mujhe nhi laga: PM Modi

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 23, 2015

Ireland mein to hum ye kar sakte hain, Hindustan mein karte to patani, secularism par sawaaliya nishaan khada ho jata: PM #ModiInIreland

— ANI (@ANI_news) September 23, 2015

Modi said that Independence is a mutual legacy of both the countries and that they share common values.

Talking about the growing status of India on the world forum, he said that 'I' is the strongest in BRICS now. He added that the entire world is talking about India and that they agree the 21st century is the time for Asia's success.

In the beginning of his speech, Modi said, "I have heard that an Indian PM is visiting this country after a long gap of 60 years", and towards the end he said that he assures everyone in Ireland that it would not take 60 years for an Indian PM to visit the country again.