A futile exercise

Foreign visits by the heads of the nations are important and essential to boost the ties between the nations and it is the PM’s responsibility to uphold national interests during those high-level talks between the nations.

Presenting the country’s stance particularly in matters of political contentions is as significant as strengthening the economic relations. It becomes relevant when there are discrepancies existing between the two nations. Prime Minister Modi recently concluded his China visit, the latest among the list of 16 countries which he visited in less than 12 months. The Congress on Saturday hit out at the PM terming his China visit as a "complete and utter failure" for his "obsession" to attack the opposition parties and leaders while on foreign visits. The Opposition slammed Modi for “mounting a disgraceful and distasteful attack” on the party violating all norms of conduct of the office of Prime Minister and falling ‘low in practicing despicable politics’. Modi is usually critisised for spurting out ‘election-campaign’ model speeches even while on his visits abroad including his visit to countries like America, Japan, France, Germany and Canada.

The heads of the nations while on foreign visits for carrying out political and economic discourses and bilateral agreements maintains a silence on internal political conflicts. The PM, while in Shanghai, China had taken a jibe at Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, pointing at his 56-day sabbatical. Modi said that he was finishing the things that were left undone for the past thirty years and that he was being attacked for working tirelessly. He said that he had not taken any vacation in the last one year and that he was fulfilling the promises he made. Modi keeps stressing on making India a ‘world power’. But his orations would only lower the value, significance and impression of the country in front of the world nations. During the visit, China had promised to invest 20 billion dollars in India in the next five years and mutual agreements bagged are likely to yield around Rs 63, 000 crore contracts in various fields. A total of 26 deals have been signed, reportedly, by the Indian and Chinese companies. Modi guaranteed e-visa facility to Chinese nationals but hardly addressed issues of stapled visas to people visiting China from Jammu Kashmir.

He failed to address China’s statements regarding Arunachal Pradesh and its continuous incursions into Indian territory and also the 46 billion investment committed by China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. China, during Modi’s visit, had released a map on state television in which Arunachal Pradesh was depicted as an integral part of China and a large portion of Jammu and Kashmir as being a part of Pakistan. The PM had focused only on high-profile business deals during all his diplomatic tours and has failed to address the issues of political conflicts between India and the other nations. Modi’s 16 international forays in the past year, seems to have gone futile and apparently, haven’t yielded any returns.