G-20 presidency an opportunity to showcase “Indianness and culture”: PM Modi

PM tells BJP leaders to maintain direct connect with border villagers and that they should be developed as places that draw visitors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India’s presidency of the G-20 was a “matter of pride for all” and an occasion to establish globally Indianness and its culture.

Mr. Modi was addressing the two-day huddle of the BJP’s national office-bearers, State unit presidents and general secretaries (organisations).

G-20 or Group of 20 is a forum of the major developed and developing economies in the world.

The Prime Minister also lauded the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam programme that was on in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi and held it as a model for the sneh milans, or cultural and other exchanges, that he had first mooted during the national executive of the party held in Hyderabad earlier this year.

BJP vice-president and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh briefed reporters after Mr. Modi’s speech.

The Prime Minister also asked BJP members to maintain direct connect with border villagers and said they should be developed as places that draw visitors. He urged elected representatives of the BJP and party leaders to do night-stay programmes in border villages as a way of not only keeping in touch but also addressing issues in these villages.

According to Mr. Singh, Mr. Modi said that there was “an acknowledgement worldwide of the country’s emergence as an economic power amid global challenges like the Ukraine war and the pandemic”.