Modi calls Badal India's Mandela, creates media storm

Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal the “Nelson Mandela of India,” igniting a social media storm. During a speech at the 113th birth anniversary of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, Modi said, “Badal Saheb is sitting here... he is the Nelson Mandela of India. He has spent so many years in prison that too for political reasons. What was the crime of people like Badal Saheb? Only that he had political views different from those in power.” The statement evidently did not go well down people's throats. Sadhvi Khosla, who is followed by the PM's personal account tweeted, “I am deeply saddened by the words @narendramodi in praise of corrupt #Badal My PM has let me down today.”