India’s Congress Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi criticised Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for his controversial remarks that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into their waters and said he does not "deserve" to be Sri Lanka's PM if he cannot differentiate between intruders and straying fishermen.

"Yes Mr Ranil, u can shoot intruders entering ur house; bt if u shoot straying innocent bystanders u r liable to be shot at, tried 4 murder."
"If Sri Lankan PM cannot differentiate between intruders & straying fishermen & finds shooting as only option, he doesn't deserve to be PM!" he tweeted.

Singhvi also said it was "bad days" for India if foreign countries felt no qualms while making such threats.

"It's "bure din" for India if SL can dare to flash eyes to India as it has on fishermen's issues," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in a series of tweets.

"It seems the #56InchChest was only for Indian voters and not for foreign threats," he said in another tweet.

Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed expressed shock over Ranil's statement. "On the eve of PM Modi's tour to Sri Lanka, its PM says if Indian fishermen will enter our territory we will shoot them."

"A lasting situation should be found, no extreme action should be taken by SL defence forces," Anand Sharma, another Congress spokesperson, posted on Twitter.

Ahead of Modi's visit to Sri Lanka, Wickramasinghe stoked a controversy suggesting that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters.

Alleging that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen, he told a Tamil TV channel that, "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that."

Talking about the fishermen issue, he said, "As far as I'm concerned, I have very very strong lines. This is our waters...Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing, that's why the Indian fishermen came in, they are willing to have a deal...Let's have a reasonable deal. But not at the expense of the income of the Northern Fishermen...No."
(With inputs from PTI)