Much sarcasm has erupted in India over the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos even as the world witnesses an epochal “rupture” – as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in his speech – between Donald Trump’s United States and Europe.

The WEF meeting in the pristine Alpine resort town has begun to resemble an “India Economic Forum”, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla remarked on Wednesday.

“It’s world economic forum or India economic forum. There are seven Indian chief ministers meeting each other in Davos. Indian companies are meeting Indian companies. Which they could have easily done in India,” Shukla, a Rajya Sabha member, wrote on X. “It has become a status symbol or show-off to go to Davos.”

At least four Union ministers — Ashwini Vaishnaw, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pralhad Joshi and K. Ram Mohan Naidu — along with at least six chief ministers are attending the summit being held from January 18 to 24.

The chief ministers include Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra), N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), A. Revanth Reddy (Telangana) and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand).

Shukla’s remarks have resonated on social media, where users are poking fun at Indian states signing agreements with Indian companies at Davos.

The Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government, for instance, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lodha Developers Ltd for an estimated investment of Rs 1 lakh crore for an information-technology data centre project in Mumbai with projected employment of 1.5 lakh.

Lodha Developers was founded by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, a Maharashtra minister, BJP MLA from Malabar Hill, and former BJP chief of Mumbai.

“Yeh Borivali mein bhi kar sakte the (this could have been done in Borivali),” the comedian Punit Pania quipped on social media, reacting to the headline.

On the sidelines of the WEF meet, the Adani Group and the Maharashtra government also signed MoUs for projects worth Rs 6 lakh crore.

Maharashtra also reportedly signed MoUs with Navi Mumbai-based Yeoman Marine Services Pvt Ltd for a Rs 1,050-crore shipbuilding project in the Konkan region, and with Surjagad Ispat Ltd and BFN Forgings, both Maharashtra-based firms, for steel sector projects in Gadchiroli and Palghar.

Fadnavis shared a photo from Davos with Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Both belong to the BJP.

The social media chatter has not been limited to BJP-ruled states.

Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy, from the Congress, met actor Chiranjeevi — who lives in the same state — during the summit. The actor was reportedly in Switzerland on a personal vacation.

Another post highlighted a meeting between Telangana minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, his son Ponguleti Harsha Reddy of Hyderabad-based Raghava Constructions, and representatives of Greenko at Davos.

“This minister couldn’t meet his own son in Hyderabad, so went all the way to Davos,” one user commented.

The Telegraph Online has not independently verified the authenticity of some of the images circulating online.

The Davos summit brings together world leaders, CEOs, policymakers and civil society representatives to deliberate on global economic growth, geopolitics, climate change, technology and inequality.

Several prominent Indian business leaders are also reportedly attending, including Mukesh Ambani, N. Chandrasekaran, Sanjiv Bajaj, Sudarshan Venu, Amitabh Chaudhry, Nadir Godrej, Sajjan Jindal, Nikhil Kamath, Sunil Mittal, Salil Parekh, Rishad Premji, Prashant Ruia, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Sumant Sinha.

All of that has been overshadowed this year by Trump claiming Greenland.