After PM Modi's US visit, Subramanian Swamy says America behaving like erstwhile Soviet Union

New Delhi: Hours after PM Narendra Modi returned from his visit to the United States, which is being hailed as a new moment in the relations between the two nations, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has said that the US is behaving like the then Soviet Union, which had “full grip on the Indian economy”.

Swamy's comments may draw fresh controversy as his assertion may seem opposite to his party's stand on the US-India relationship.

Swamy, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, in a twitter post, said, “I fought the Soviet Union's grip on Indian economy, politics and bureaucracy from 1968 to 1991. The Soviet Union's retaliation was massive but I prevailed.”

He also said that PM Modi “has to be protected” but without describing from whom and how.

Swamy said in another Twitter post, “Now the SU (Soviet Union) is in 16 pieces. Sadly now I find US has taken SU's (Soviet Union's) place and behaving likewise. Namo (apparently referring to PM Narendra Modi in short) has to be protected.”

The BJP leader was recently inducted into the Rajya Sabha even as his tirade against a section of the political spectrum, particularly the Congress Party, has been growing shriller.