Nehru, Indira were popular without social media : Shiv Sena's sidelong at PM Modi

The sting for the PM from an unlikely quarter came as an  editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday  said: "There is no doubt that Modi is very popular and everywhere he went (in the US) there were chants of 'Modi Modi', but so were Nehru and Indira, even at a time there was no social media like today."

The Sena also says that the contribution of previous Congress prime ministers like PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh cannot be forgotten.

"PM Modi enjoys extraordinary popularity overseas but we must not forget that Manmohan Singh and Narasimha Rao laid the foundation for India's economic progress," said the editorial.

"When the country was facing an economic crisis, they gave shape and direction to the economic progress of the country. Even though they are political opponents, we cannot lose sight of this and they did this even while juggling a fragmented and often fragile coalition," it said.

The party  reminded that  a revolution in broadcasting and telecom first took place during Indira Gandhi's regime, and it was carried forward by her successor and son Rajiv Gandhi, who  worked to get phones to each village.

The editorial, however,  ended  on a note of praise: "Modi is very popular abroad and global recognition for India makes us all proud. He should be congratulated."

PM Modi on Monday ended a five-day visit of the US, during which he attended a UN conference in New York, met with tech giants in Silicon Valley and visited Facebook and Google.

The Sena, a close ally of the BJP for 25 years, has recently become vocal in its occasional criticism of the Narendra Modi government, especially after both parties  fell out just before the Maharashtra election a year ago, though later managed to patch up to form government.