By creating immense international support for India’s surgical strike, has Modi answered the forever-unanswered question — Why the prime minister is always globetrotting?
If you go by the account of Prime Minister’s critiques, his only achievement in his two and a half year tenure has been his visit to 40+ foreign countries and approximately 100+ days that he has spent out of India. We are keeping the recent post-Uri surgical strike out of his list of achievements because ‘some people want a proof’ that the strike actually happened, and if it happened, should Modi be given any credit for it. Keeping the blame game aside, our foreign policy is finally making us mighty and there is substantial proof which points out towards India’s growing status as a world partner.
Growing international support on surgical strike
India managed to isolate Pakistan after conducting the surgical strike last week. Baring China, most of the big brothers of the world — United States, Russia, Germany, Japan — supported India’s strike on terror camps across LOC. While Russia was the first country to openly support the surgical strike, the European parliament officially condemned the Uri attack supporting India’s attack in Pak occupied Kashmir. In a signed article that has been published in European Parliament on Tuesday, Vice President Ryszard Czarnecki said India’s cross-border action against the terrorists should be “commended and supported by the international community.” Even UAE has supported India.
SAARC In Pak, Dumped
Pakistan was left more embarrassed when Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal refused to participate in the SAARC summit which Pakistan was supposed to host.
What has India gained from PM’s foreign trips?
- Make In India is bit of a success: May be not as big as it should have been, but big brands (Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola) have forayed into India and setting up their factories. In fact, very recently, it was reported in Chinese media that manufacturers are now giving preference to India over China to set up factories.
- Massive support for NSG bid: Even though India could not get a spot in the big league, there was massive support for its bid from Switzerland, US and Mexico. It’s not the first time India applied for a place in Nuclear Suppliers Group, but the kind of support it received this time was epic.
- The world is finally 'talking' about terrorism: In early 90s, India was perhaps the only victim of terrorism, but now the entire world is in the clutches of suicide bombers, trigger happy people and radicals. Narendra Modi and Sushma Swaraj have been able to convince the world that we need to fight terrorists because they have now reached every doorstep.
Modi vs Manmohan vs Vajpayee, Who travelled the most?
Without a doubt Modi is the most widely travelled Prime Minister of India. In the first 25 months of his first tenure starting May 2004, Manmohan Singh, his predecessor, had travelled to 16 countries, and in the first 25 months of the second tenure starting May 2009, he flew to 18 countries. Vajpayee travelled to only six countries in similar duration when he was a full tenure PM National Democratic Alliance rule starting October 1999.
Our Prime Minister’s Trips In Number
24 international trips were made by Modi till July.
1 trip per month The average number of trip the prime minister made since he took charge in May 2014.
Rs 117 crore was spent by Air India in 2015-2016 on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign travel.
22 countries, including Russia, France, Germany, Korea, Mongolia, China, the UAE, Ireland, the UK, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey among others were visited by prime minister till December last year. In comparison, the national carrier spent Rs 108 crore on air travel of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during 2013-2014. TNN
Rs 30 crore was spent by Air India for his trip to China, Mongolia, Korea, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.
2014-2015 The most expensive trip undertaken by the Prime Minister was to Australia and Myanmar where he spent Rs 22 crore followed by Brazil where Rs 20 crore were spent.
Some interesting facts about PM’s foreign trips
- He is the first prime minister from India to visit Mozambique in 34 years since Indira Gandhi went there in 1982.
- He is the first foreign dignitary to interact with women entrepreneurs of Saudi Arabia. He did so on April 3, 2016 in Riyadh.
- He is the first Indian PM to address the British parliament. He did so during his visit to London, UK in November 2015.
- He is the first Indian PM to visit Seychelles, Canada, Ireland and Sri Lanka in 34, 42, 60, 29 years respectively. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the last one to visit Ireland in 1956.
With Agency inputs