Drum-beating serves purpose of erasing contribution of previous govts: Congress on PM's G7 presence

The Congress on Friday alleged that hype was being created around Prime Minister Narendra Modi's participation in the G7 summit in Japan through "fake narratives", and said this "drum-beating" serves the purpose of erasing the continuity of governance and contribution of previous governments.

Prime Minister Modi on Friday embarked on a tour of Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia to attend three key multilateral summits including that of the G7 grouping and Quad.

In the first leg of his trip, Modi is visiting the Japanese city of Hiroshima from May 19 to 21 primarily for the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies in which he is expected to speak on challenges facing the globe, including food, fertiliser and energy security.

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Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The hype factory around the self-styled Vishwaguru attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in Japan has started manufacturing fake narratives."

"Here's the reality: Summits of developed countries started way back in 1976. India was invited along with few other countries for the first time in 2003. Dr. Manmohan Singh attended such G7+ Summits regularly," he said.

"So all this drum-beating serves the purpose of not only self-glorification of The Great Leader, but also erasing the continuity of governance and contribution of previous governments," Ramesh said.

From Japan, Modi will travel to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea where he will host the third summit of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on May 22 jointly with Prime Minister James Marape.

In the third and final leg of the trip, Modi will visit Australia from May 22 to 24.