Congress has strongly criticised the PM for skipping the summit, saying it has sent out the wrong signal. The party pointed out that in 2012, Dr Manmohan Singh had travelled to Iran, despite pressure from the US.
Even as Vice-President Hamid Ansari downplayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to skip the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela, the host country's ambassador in New Delhi Augusto Montiel has expressed dismay. She said the Indian PM's presence would have added weight to the meeting of the 120 member grouping. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a leader of global standing. His presence at the NAM summit, whose key agenda is multi-polarity and a more equitable world, would have added more weight to the summit," the envoy said.
Earlier Venezuelan foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez who was here last month to hand over an invitation to the PM had stressed that since India was a founding member of the NAM, it would be really important to have Modi there. "The Non-Aligned principles are today more relevant than ever. So we are sure that India will attend NAM and attend at the highest level," the Venezuelan Foreign Minister has said. The summit is scheduled for September 17-18 in Margarita Island, Venezuela.
Except the caretaker Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1979, no other Indian head of government has missed a NAM summit since it was formed in 1961. Earlier also in 2015, when the PM was invited to the 60th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference, which had founded the NAM, he sent External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to travel in his place.
Vice President Ansari led the Indian delegation for the NAM Summit. Asked what kind of message India was sending with Prime Minister Modi skipping the 17th NAM Summit, Ansari said, "India is participating. NAM is not a conference of prime ministers." He also asserted that India will strongly take up its concerns about terrorism at the summit as it has been doing at all international forums.
Congress has strongly criticised the PM for skipping the summit, saying it has sent out the wrong signal. The party pointed out that in 2012, Dr Manmohan Singh had travelled to Iran, despite pressure from the US.
Meanwhile, a day ahead of the summit, Pakistan is reported to have scuttled an Indian move to set up a working group on counter-terrorism at the preparatory meeting on Friday. Pakistani representative Tasneem Aslam spoke against it and opposed the consensus that was needed for the proposal. The proposal was mooted by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar. "The Indian proposal aimed to foster greater cooperation between NAM states who are the biggest victims of terrorism as 20 NAM states from all parts of the globe spoke strongly in support with Pakistan being the sole country opposing the broadly supported initiative," sources said.
Aslam said it may be too onerous for small countries to have to participate in another working group as they have staffing issues and also why should there be a working group only for terrorism and not for other issues. Now it is to be seen whether the proposal will be part of the final statement to be prepared for the summit which is to conclude on Sunday.
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