'Do not behove state authority': MEA rebukes Punjab CM Mann's 'Magnesia, Tarvesia' remarks on PM Modi's foreign visits

New Delhi: After Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann made certain comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi strongly reacted, dismissing his comments as “irresponsible and regrettable”.

As the Prime Minister returned after touring Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia, Mann, a senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, questioned the significance of the visits.

The chief minister used the names of some fictional countries to underline his views about the insignificance of the Prime Minister’s visits.

“PM has gone somewhere. I think it is Ghana. He is going to be back, and he is welcome. God knows which countries he keeps visiting, ‘Magnesia’, ‘Galveaisa’, ‘Tarvesia’,” said Mann.

“He (Modi) does not stay in a country with 140 crore people. He is visiting countries where the population is 10,000 and he is getting the ‘highest awards’ there,” said Mann, adding, “Here, 10,000 people gather to watch a JCB (bulldozers). What has he gotten himself into?”

Modi has received national honours from Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and Namibia. He also received the key to the city of Buenos Aires during his visit to Argentina.

“We have seen some comments made by a high state authority about India’s relations with friendly countries from the Global South,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said. “These remarks are irresponsible and regrettable and do not behove the state authority.”

“(The) Government of India disassociates itself from such unwarranted comments that undermine India’s ties with friendly countries,” added the MEA spokesperson.