There are issues, many coming into the limelight after decades of silence, bigger than they look, of solidarity with your people and how they can contribute towards the country. Spellbinding magic is cast on NRI and PIOs as the 10- day tour of the Prime Minister to Myanmar, Fiji and Australia reaches destination India.
The East Asian Summit, ASEAN- India Summit and many bilateral talks which dotted Modi’s itinerary re-announced ‘Make in India’ and ‘Swaccha Bharat’ to the world, also reaffirming the pride in the tech province as Digitalising Myanmar was a give-away. Our neighbor in the North-East is a strategic buffer between India and China– the two major powers of the region. Infrastructural development internationally to connect India- Myanmar- Thailand via road is not just to boost tourism.
The address to Australian Parliament, bilateral meet at Canberra, G-20 leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Sydney speeches marked the Australian stay of ‘Rockstar’ Modi. His outreach to Indians living here was phenomenal. The maturity in Indo-Australian relations is welcome but we should not forget that the lifting of the ban on Uranium in India faced mass protests in the country. Paying that cost for a country where a leading institute doesn’t show Kashmir on the map, for a country where our fellow Indians faced racial attacks, are they forgotten?
Economy and energy were at the core of the G-20 discussions. the leaders of 85 percent of the world population came together and agreed on certain ripe issues like the female labor force, increasing the GDP of the world, infrastructural growth. We have to wait for the IMF reports on the implementation of the same to see what course did this two-day brainstorming actually takes. Certain issues like climate change suffered as the host country opined differently and strongly though jointly India and Australia agreed on a landmark framework for security cooperation across the spectrum in defense, cyber and maritime security and combating terrorism, including the threats posed by foreign fighters joining extremists groups.
The next destination was 37 percent Indian– Fiji, where the media calls India “the Asian superpower.” Modi succeeded in wooing the Indian Diaspora by announcing the merger of OCI and PIO status and asked support for the Clean India Campaign. Surely, it lies in the heart of our PM. The island in the pacific can be used extensively to serve our purposes in the area with the demography supporting Indian causes and providing strength and a counter to China’s ‘string of pearls.’
When the pro-active PM had started for the series of summits and numerous bilateral meetings by their sidelines, black money was a key issue, but as he came back, he had strengthened Brand India with not much spoken on black money. Why do issues change? Why is the focus of Modiplomacy so staggered?
The executives have to find their way, as meandering between several issues will fail to bear fruits even if the intentions are noble. Rebuilding historic connections in Myanmar, wooing the ‘Pravasi Bhartiya’ in Australia, or empowering the ties with the pacific islands, all showcase a strong and welcoming India. The story is still rolling, and certainly the ‘Act East’ will have to be maintained as the leaders meet in Nepal for the SAARC summit, as we stand in competition with China and camaraderie with the rest of the east.
