Modi passes G20 gavel to Lula

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called an end on Sunday to the G20 Summit in New Delhi by passing on a ceremonial gavel to Brazil, which will take the bloc’s presidency.

“I want to congratulate Brazil’s president and my friend Lula da Silva, and hand over the presidency’s gavel to him,” Modi said.

Modi congratulated Lula, while handing him over the presidency of G20 after the closing session of the G20 Summit 2023 at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi

Brazil officially will take over the mantle of the presidency of the elite grouping on December 01, 2023. Speaking on the occasion, Lula congratulated Modi and thanked India for its efforts to give voice to the topics of interest to emerging economies.

Lula also listed social inclusion, the fight against hunger, energy transition and sustainable development as G20 priorities.

He said the UN Security Council needs new developing countries as permanent, non-permanent members to regain political strength.

“We want greater representation for emerging countries at the World Bank and the IMF,” he said.

“Brazilian presidency of the G20 has three priorities — first, social inclusion and fight against hunger. Second, energy transition and sustainable development in its three aspects... Third, the reform of global governance institutions.

“All these priorities are part of the Brazilian presidency motto which says ‘building a fair world and a sustainable planet’. Two task forces will be created — global alliance against hunger and poverty and the global mobilization against climate change.”

Lula said on Saturday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Interviewed on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi by news show Firstpost, Lula said Putin would be invited to next year’s event, adding that he himself planned to attend a BRICS bloc of developing nations meeting due in Russia before the Rio meeting.

“I believe that Putin can go easily to Brazil,” Lula said. “What I can say to you is that if I’m president of Brazil, and he comes to Brazil, there’s no way he will be arrested.”

On the occasion, Modi proposed to hold a virtual session of G20 at the end of November this year.

“In the last two days, you have put forward your views, given suggestions and a number of proposals have been put forward. It is our responsibility that the suggestions that have come forth are closely looked upon as to how they can be speeded up,” Modi said.

“It is my proposal that we hold another session of the G20 virtually in November-end. In that session, we can review the issues that have been agreed upon during this summit. Our teams will share the details of it with all of view. I hope all of you will join this (session),” he said.

“With this, I declare the G20 summit as closed,” Modi said. 

Why Modi is keen in calling India Bharat?

Dinner invites referring Bharat rather than India have fueled a political row and public debate over what the country should be called as the country prepares to welcome world leaders for the G20 summit.

Invites issued by the “President of Bharat,” instead of the customary “President of India,” were sent to delegates from the world’s 20 top economies for a dinner to be hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday.

Both India and Bharat are used officially in the nation of 1.4 billion people, which has more than 20 official languages.

“India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States,” the country’s constitution states.

Bharat is also the Hindi word for India and is used interchangeably – both feature on Indian passports for example.

But its use on the invites marks a notable change in the naming convention used by the country on the international stage under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The G20 summit is a first for India as Modi aims to raise New Delhi’s global clout following nearly a decade-long tenure in power in which he has positioned himself as a leader intent on shedding the country’s colonial past – emphasizing the need to liberate ourselves from the slavery mindset.

Britain ruled India for about 200 years until it gained independence in 1947 and those who prefer Bharat say the name the country is best known by globally is a remnant of the colonial era.

The name India has been derived by ancient Western civilizations from the Sanskrit word for the Indus River – Sindhu – and was later adapted by the British Empire.

“The word ‘India’ is an abuse given to us by the British, whereas the word ‘Bharat’ is a symbol of our culture,” Harnath Singh Yadav, a BJP politician, told Indian broadcaster ANI.

Meanwhile, former India cricket star Virender Sehwag urged the sport’s officials to use Bharat on players’ shirts during the Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be held in India this year.

“We are Bhartiyas, India is a name given by the British and it has been long overdue to get our original name ‘Bharat’ back officially,” he said on social media.

During its time in power, Modi’s government has made steps to steer the country away from what it has called “vestiges of British rule” and to free itself from its “colonial baggage.”

These efforts also include renaming roads and buildings related to both India’s Mughal as well as its colonial past.

For example, in 2022, the government renamed Rajpath, a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) boulevard formerly known as Kingsway that runs through the heart of New Delhi. The new official name, Kartavya Path, would “remove any trace of colonial mindset,” the government said.

And in 2018, three Indian islands named after British rulers were renamed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to erase “these signs of slavery.”

But the use of “Bharat” on the G20 invites has raised eyebrows among opposition leaders.

“While there is no constitutional objection to calling India ‘Bharat’, which is one of the country’s two official names, I hope the government will not be so foolish as to completely dispense with ‘India’, which has incalculable brand value built up over centuries,” Shashi Tharoor, a former diplomat and prominent lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, said on social media.

Tharoor is also the author of “Inglorious Empire”, a work of non-fiction that excoriates colonial Britain’s rule of India.

India's opposition is uniting to unseat Modi in next year's election. Should he be worried?

In July, the leaders from 26 Indian opposition parties formed an alliance – known as INDIA (or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) – in a bid to unseat Modi in the next general election.

Coined to evoke a sense of nationalism ahead of the 2024 polls, the INDIA alliance said its goal was upholding the country’s democratic institutions.

Modi’s government has come under scrutiny from rights groups and opposition lawmakers for its increasingly strident brand of Hindu nationalist politics, an ongoing crackdown on dissent, and a tightening grip on the country’s democratic institutions.

Modi has denied a crackdown, saying in a rare June press conference at the White House that when “there are no human rights, then it’s not a democracy,” and “there’s absolutely no space for discrimination” in the country.

Some opposition politicians said the government’s use of Bharat was a response to the formation of the INDIA alliance.

“How can the BJP strike down ‘INDIA’? The country doesn’t belong to a political party; it belongs to [all] Indians,” Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Raghav Chadha, an alliance member, said on social media. “Our national identity is not the BJP’s personal property that it can modify on whims and fancies.”

But in an interview with ANI, India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar said India “is Bharat.”

“It is there in the constitution. I would invite everybody to read it,” he said.

“When you say Bharat,” it evokes a “sense, a meaning and a connotation,” he said.

“I think that is reflected in our constitution as well

 

British PM Sunak extends support to Ukraine

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday extended his support for Ukraine at the G20 summit while confirming a long-planned order for warships from BAE Systems.

The announcements come as Britain prepares for a budget on November 17, 2022 in which the government will lay out spending cuts and tax rises.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime would hear the chorus of global opposition to its actions, Sunak said.

"Russia's actions put all of us at risk," he said at the summit in Bali, Indonesia. "As we give the Ukrainian people the support they need, we are also harnessing the breadth and depth of UK expertise to protect ourselves and our allies."

Sunak also announced a 4.2 billion pound (US$4.94 billion) contract to BAE Systems to build five ships for the Royal Navy, a government statement said.

This contract, in addition to the three ships already under construction, comes as the next phase in the Type 26 frigate program and all the eight of the Type 26 frigates are expected to be completed by the mid-2030s, the statement said.

The British government has planned to build a total of eight Type 26s since 2015, when it cut the program from 13 ships.

Ships of the class will be advanced warships to be used in anti-submarine warfare to protect the British nuclear deterrent at sea, according to the government.

The prime minister and fellow leaders would stress at this week's meeting that Russia's role in the international system would never be normalized while the war in Ukraine continued, the statement added.

Sunak arrived at the summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Monday for a meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also attend.

In support to Ukraine, Britain said last week it would soon complete delivery of 1,000 additional surface-to-air missiles to the Ukraine's armed forces. Britain also announced delivery of a further 12,000 sleeping kits for extreme cold weather.

 

Will the US allow Putin to attend G20 summit?

Indonesia is the host of G20 Summit scheduled in November this year. Presidents of three rival countries, Russia, China and Ukraine have been invited. Indonesian has been accepted as a bridge of peace.

Chinese and Russian leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit in Bali in November, Indonesian President Joko Widodo told Bloomberg News on Thursday.

“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as he is popularly known, told the news agency.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Indonesian presidential palace officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indonesia is chairing the Group of 20 major economies and has faced pressure from Western countries to withdraw its invitation to Putin over his country's invasion on Ukraine, which his government calls a "special military operation".

Jokowi has sought to position himself as mediator between the warring countries, and has travelled to meet both Ukrainian and Russian presidents. This week, Jokowi said both countries have accepted Indonesia as a "bridge of peace".

Leaders of major countries, including US President Joe Biden, are set to meet in Indonesia's resort island of Bali in November. Indonesia has also invited Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy.