It was during the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month that the Modi Government first started promoting ‘Bharat’ as the name of the country in the international forums.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Credit: PTI Photo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Tuesday took its promotion of ‘Bharat’ as the name of the country to the United Nations with the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar commencing his address to the General Assembly of the international organisation with a ‘Namaste from Bharat’ greeting.
He concluded his 18-minute-long speech at the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations by defining “India that is Bharat” as “a civilizational policy” that embraced “modernity” and brought “both tradition and technology equally confidently to the table”.
It was during the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month that the Modi Government first started promoting “Bharat” as the name of the country in the international forums. An invitation for a dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan was sent to the G20 delegates and other guests with the host being mentioned as “President of Bharat”. It prompted the Congress and the other opposition parties to allege that the BJP-led government was trying to drop India from the name of the country. They called it a move by the Modi Government in response to the opposition parties naming their alliance as I.N.D.I.A.
When Modi chaired the G20 summit on September 9 and 10, the plaque in front of him also read “Prime Minister Bharat”.
Members of United Hindu Front organisation shout slogans as they hold banners during a rally along a street in New Delhi on September 24, 2023, to condemn Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada designated as a Khalistani terrorist by the Indian authorities (Image: AFP)
Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair has called Canada’s relationship with India “important”, and said his country will continue to pursue partnerships like the Indo-Pacific strategy while the investigation of the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar continues.
Canada had been seeking deeper trade, defence, and immigration ties with India before the “credible intelligence,” as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it, was first raised with Canadian officials, Global News reported.
In an interview aired on Sunday on The West Block, Blair suggested Canada will continue to pursue those partnerships while the investigation into allegations continues.
WHAT BLAIR SAID?
“We understand that this can be, and has proven to be, a challenging issue with respect to our relationship with India,” he was quoted as saying by Global News.
“But at the same time, we have a responsibility to defend the law, defend our citizens, and at the same time make sure that we conduct a thorough investigation and get to the truth,” he said.
If the allegations are proven true, Blair said “there is a very significant concern that Canada will have with respect to the violation of our sovereignty in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
The Minister further noted that the Indo-Pacific strategy was still a critical one for Canada and has led to an increased military presence in the region and commitments for further patrol capabilities.
Notably, the Indo-Pacific strategy commits USD 492.9 million over five years toward those military priorities, out of a total of nearly USD 2.3 billion over the same period.
INDIA-CANADA DIPLOMATIC ISSUE
Tensions flared between India and Canada following Trudeau’s explosive allegations of Indian agents’ “potential” involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Nijjar on his country’s soil on June 18 in British Columbia.
India had designated 45-year-old Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), as a terrorist in 2020.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
On Thursday, India asked Canada to come down hard on terrorists and anti-India elements operating from its soil and suspended visa services for Canadians, as escalating tensions between the two nations over the killing of Nijjar pushed their ties to an all-time low. It also accused Canada of being a safe haven for terrorists.
India also asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic staff in the country, arguing that there should be parity in strength and rank equivalence in the mutual diplomatic presence. The size of Canadian diplomatic staff in India is larger than what New Delhi has in Canada.
Meanwhile, the United Hindu Front on Sunday held a protest against the Canadian PM at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, expressing their disapproval of Trudeau’s alleged support and protection of anti-India Khalistanis.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in New York, also took a veiled dig at Canada. Speaking at a ministerial session titled ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions and Ideas’ hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, Jaishankar said that it is still a world of “double standards” and those countries which are occupying positions of influence are resisting the pressure to change.
“In the name of the market, a lot of things are done, like in the name of freedom, a lot of things are done,” he said, hinting at Trudeau’s statements defending pro-Khalistan activities in Canada by citing freedom of speech.
In Canada, however, posters calling for the killing of Indian diplomats at a Gurdwara in Surrey were taken down after local authorities intervened amid Ottawa’s plummeting ties with India. According to sources, the Surrey Gurdwara was asked to remove the posters calling for the killing of three Indian diplomats after authorities realised the magnitude of the issue and the optics of such messaging originating from Canadian soil.
INDIA MULLS TO CANCEL OCI CARDS OF KHALISTANI TERRORISTS
After the National Investigation Agency (NIA) confiscated the properties of Canada-based ‘designated individual terrorist’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, it is learnt that the government has asked the investigative agencies to identify the properties of other terrorists wanted in India sitting abroad.
Sources privy to the matter said that the government has asked the agencies to identify the properties of the terrorists settled abroad.
He was addressing the B20 summit held by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the run-up to the G20 summit in New Delhi.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addresses a session on ‘Role of Global South in Emerging World 2.0’ at the B20 Summit India 2023, in New Delhi, Sunday
The G20 cannot deliver on its core mandate of promoting economic growth if the concerns of the ‘Global South’ are not addressed, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict overshadowing the summit of the intergovernmental forum to be held in New Delhi next month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. With the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the rest of the West wanting Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine high on the agenda, India has been worried over the possibility of the conflict overshadowing its own priority for the conclave – becoming the voice of the ‘Global South’ and raising the concerns of the developing nations in the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
The external affairs minister was addressing the B20 summit held by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the run-up to the G20 summit in New Delhi. He noted that the ‘Global South’ had largely been reduced to being a consumer rather than a producer and had not been able to reap the full benefits of economic change.
