Invites to global leaders pending

New Delhi: Amid feverish speculation raging within government and ruling party circles, sources on Saturday said a decision is yet to be taken by the Central government on invitations for foreign dignitaries to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his second term in office that is scheduled to take place in a few days.

Government sources said, “There is speculation... about invitations to foreign dignitaries for the swearing-in ceremony. At the moment, we have no information on this matter.  We will share details with the media once a decision is taken.”

Speculation is rife that a galaxy of top world leaders could be invited to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony for his second tenure in power including leaders of the P-5 countries (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China), Japan, Germany, Israel, prominent Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates as well as several SAARC countries in India’s neighbourhood.

However, government sources had recently told this newspaper that any invites would only be issued after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) takes a decision in this regard.  Government sources had also said that it was still too “premature” to talk about any invitations to foreign leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony that could take place in the next few days. However, the government is expected to take a decision on this soon.

Speculation is rife that US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping could be among the leaders invited. Attendance of some of the world’s top leaders is bound to further boost Mr Modi’s image as a strong leader under whose leadership India is realising its potential in the world. This will also come at a time when India is pushing for permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

It may be recalled that during his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, Mr Modi had invited leaders of all SAARC nations including then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. It is also almost certain that India under Mr Modi in his second tenure and Pakistan under its PM Imran Khan could inch forward towards a peace process despite the current severely strained ties between the two neighbours.

Mr Modi is also likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit that will take place at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan in mid-June.