Global to local

Modi government is using the G20 summit to make the common man a stakeholder in shaping foreign policy

- MANDIRA NAYAR

This April, India organised a moonlit diplomatic tea party at the Makaibari estate in Kurseong, West Bengal. Makaibari is perhaps the only legacy tea estate in the country that is devoid of a strong Raj influence. Barring a brief period of ownership by an Englishman, the estate has been run by Indians. The Modi government chose the Makaibari estate for the second G20 tourism working group meeting. Like the Boston Tea Party of 1773, this one, too, was somewhat about a political stirring. Not a rebellion, but a radical idea-of taking diplomacy beyond the confines of the national capital.

With 200 meetings across 60 cities, the G20 meetings have been a 'Discovery of India' exercise. From Sardar Patel's Statue of Unity at Kevadia to the Mahatma Gandhi museum at Dandi Kutir (both in Gujarat), the venues have been chosen to project Brand India, Modi style. "Foreign policy has been the Modi government's big success story," said retired diplomat Gurjit Singh. "Modi is one of the senior-most leaders of the G20, along with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. The upcoming summit is among the biggest diplomatic events that India can host."

A working group meeting on tourism was held in Srinagar in May-inarguably a diplomatic win for India, even though China and Turkey chose to stay away. Goa, too, hosted a tourism meeting. Kumarakom, in Kerala, was chosen for a G20 sherpas' meeting. Jodhpur hosted the first employment working group meeting, while Kohima was the venue for the meeting on multilateral business partnerships in agriculture and food processing, tourism and IT. Indore hosted the first agriculture deputies' meeting; Nagpur was selected for a civil society meeting, and Patna has been chosen to host a labour engagement group meeting.