New Delhi: Just ten days after being re-elected for a third term with a diminished mandate, Narendra Modi embarked on his first foreign trip to Italy’s Apulia region for the G7 summit, where he pumped the hands of world leaders and proclaimed his victory in the Indian general elections to be a triumph for the democratic world.
On June 4, the Indian electorate delivered an unexpected result, reducing Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party below a majority. However, he returned to power as the BJP-led alliance surpassed the halfway mark in parliament.
Modi and his cabinet took the oath of office on June 9. Less than a week later, he flew to Italy to attend an outreach session of the G7 summit.
While the bloc of seven developed countries held multiple sessions since the summit began on June 13, Italy also invited 11 countries, including India, for the outreach session.
Modi’s formal participation in the summit was limited to the outreach session on the final day, while the rest of his time was spent in bilateral meetings and ‘pull asides’ on the sidelines.
He began his speech at the outreach session with a tribute to Indian elections, citing figures such as 2,600 political parties, one million polling booths and 640 million votes cast.
“The entire electoral process has been made fair and transparent by the ubiquitous use of technology. and the results of such a large election were also declared within a few hours!” he said.
Incidentally, the opposition had made several complaints saying that not only was the counting of votes unusually slow this time, but also alleging foul play in very close fights.
Reiterating his favoured description of India as the “mother of democracy”, he asserted that his return to power for a rare third term was not just a victory for democracy, but for the democratic world as a whole.
“And I am fortunate that the people of India have given me the opportunity to serve them for the third consecutive time. This has happened for the first time in India in the last six decades. The blessings that the people of India have given in the form of this historic victory is a victory of democracy. It is a victory of the entire democratic world. And I am extremely happy to be present among all of you friends just a few days after assuming office,” he said, as per the speech released by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The rest of his speech was about the theme of the session, which was Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean.
Outside the formal confines of the session, the attending leaders mingled, engaging in brief conversations.
Modi’s account on X posted photos of him sharing pleasantries with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jordanian King Abdullah, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Although a ‘pull aside’ meeting with US President Joe Biden was planned, Modi only shared photos of them standing and greeting each other, with a caption stating they will continue “working together for global good”.
No further details about the meeting were provided by either India or the US.
The surprising presence on Modi’s timeline on X regarding his time in Italy was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Although both Modi and Trudeau were expected to be in the same room, their brief interaction was unscheduled. This marked their first meeting since the G20 summit in Delhi last September, after which Trudeau publicly alleged that India was behind the killing of a Canadian Sikh citizen.
The G7 summit also made headlines as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the host, invited Pope Francis as a guest for the first time.
On his official X account, Modi posted photos of him greeting and then embracing the 87-year-old Pope Francis ahead of the outreach session.
Modi expressed his admiration for the Pontiff’s commitment to serving people and reiterated a standing invitation, extended three years ago, for him to visit India.
“I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better. Also invited him to visit India,” Modi posted.
Met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the @G7 Summit. I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better. Also invited him to visit India. @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/BeIPkdRpUD
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 14, 2024
The Pope, who is wheelchair bound due to his health concerns, became the first Pontiff to address the G7 summit on Friday.
Modi had earlier met with Pope Francis at the Vatican City in 2021 on the sidelines of another G7 summit in Italy, during which he had extended an invitation to visit India.
Additionally, the prime minister had sit-down meetings with five leaders – Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The latter three leaders are facing critical electoral threats. Sunak is just three weeks away from a general election where experts predict his Conservative Party is likely to suffer a historic defeat.
Macron called a snap election for the National Assembly next month after his party fared poorly in the European Parliament elections against Marine Le Pen’s far-right party.
Japanese PM Kishida is dealing with all-time low approval ratings, leading to internal unrest within his party and the possibility of a challenge later this year.
The prime minister returned to India on Saturday morning after his whirlwind trip abroad.
