Picture : ANI/ X
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said India’s presence at the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, at the level of a Minister of State, was in stark contrast to the heads of state gathered there, and wondered whether the decision reflects ‘strategic restraint’ or ‘missed opportunity’.
According to media reports , Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh is representing India at a peace summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. It is learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited for the summit that is expected to be attended by US President Donald Trump and nearly 20 other world leaders.
However, New Delhi deputed Singh to attend the summit.
Reacting to the development, Tharoor said, “India’s presence at the Sharm el-Sheikh Gaza peace summit, at the level of a Minister of State, stands in stark contrast to the heads of state gathered there. Strategic restraint or missed opportunity?”
“This is no reflection on Kirti Vardhan Singh, whose competence is not in question; but given the galaxy of grandees present, India’s choice could be seen as signalling a preference for strategic distance, which our statements don’t convey,” said Tharoor, a former minister of state for external affairs.
“And for reasons of protocol access alone, India’s voice at the Summit on issues of reconstruction and regional stability may carry less weight than it could have. In a region reshaping itself, our relative absence is puzzling,” said the Congress MP and Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs.
The summit is taking place days after the first phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan came into effect.
