The Trinamool and the Congress on Wednesday took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who embarked on a five-nation visit – to Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia – in the morning.
The prime minister expressed confidence in bolstering India’s ties with the host countries during his visit, which will conclude on July 9.
“I am confident that my visits to the five countries will reinforce our bonds friendship across the Global South, strengthen our partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic, and deepen engagements in the multilateral platforms such as BRICS, the African Union, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and the CARICOM (Caribbean Community),” Modi said on the eve of his departure.
Modi will visit Brazil to attend the BRICS summit, Ghana, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Argentina. Into his third term as PM, this is Modi’s second five-nation tour. In 2016 he visited the US, Mexico, Switzerland, Afghanistan and Qatar.
Since the terrorist attack in Pahalgam this April and India’s military action through Operation Sindoor, the opposition parties have questioned the outcome of Modi’s frequent foreign trips.
“Seventy one days have elapsed since the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 innocent lives and yet, not a single country has explicitly condemned Pakistan,” the Trinamool wrote on its X handle on Wednesday morning.
“This is not just a foreign policy failure, it is a diplomatic disaster. A complete fall from grace from BJP’s self-appointed, much-touted status of ‘Vishwaguru’,” it wrote.
Bengal’s ruling party reminded the US President professed his “love” for Pakistan and dined with its army chief, the IMF and World Bank sanctioned loans for Pakistan while the country was engaged in a war with India, the UNSC appointed Pakistan as vice-chairman of its anti-terrorism committee, while India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of shielding terrorists in its territory.
“And if that weren’t alarming enough, Pakistan now holds the presidency of the UN Security Council for July,” the Trinamool wrote.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh repeated his “Super Premium Frequent Flier” taunt of Modi, and offered a history lesson.
"Super Premium Frequent Flier PM is in Ghana today,” Ramesh wrote on his X handle. “Till the mid-60s, Ghanian and indeed African politics was dominated by Kwame Nkrumah, who is an iconic figure. He shared a very warm relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru, which long pre-dated Ghana's independence in March 1957."
A prominent road in Accra on which India House is located is named after Nehru, while the diplomatic enclave in New Delhi has a Kwame Nkrumah Marg, Ramesh pointed out.
On Tuesday, Ramesh had written: “When the going gets tough, the self-styled toughs get going. The Super Premium Frequent Flier PM is off on a five-nation, eight-day jaunt.”
He had provided a list of issues that he said Modi was running away from. The list included Manipur, reverses suffered by India during the recent war with Pakistan, US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire and the failure to identify and arrest the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack.
The Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, had replied to Ramesh’s post on Tuesday.
“One more to the list: Jobs. And the lack of them. Young people across the country are hurting,” O’Brien wrote.