external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj

India Checking Report IL&FS Employees Held Hostage by Staff in Ethiopia

Seven Indian employees of the debt-laden IL&FS company have been held hostage by Ethiopian staff because of non-payment of salaries, according to messages posted on Twitter by those saying they were being held.

New Delhi: India has asked Ethiopian authorities to investigate a report that employees of an Indian company, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), have been taken hostage by staff in Ethiopia, an Indian government source said on Saturday.

An Indian foreign ministry official said India was discussing the matter “on priority” with Ethiopian authorities and the management of IL&FS.

“We are doing our best to ensure a settlement of this matter,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

An IL&FS spokesman in India declined to comment.

Also Read: With NCLT Approval, Indian Govt Seizes Control of Debt-Laden IL&FS

The Indian government took control of IL&FS last month after it defaulted on some of its debt, triggering wider concerns about risk in the country’s financial system.

The infrastructure financing and development company had over the years developed road, township and water-treatment projects in India and abroad.

Neeraj Raghuwanshi, who said he was one of the seven employees held hostage, has been calling for help on Twitter since November 27.

“Situations are beyond our control, please #help before mishappening,” Raghuwanshi said late on Friday in a tweet, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the foreign minister to intervene.

Raghuwanshi said the seven IL&FS employees were held in three different locations in Ethiopia, following delayed salaries to staff and non-payment of local government taxes.

Another IL&FS member of staff who said he was being hostage, Khurram Imam, wrote on Twitter they were facing “lots of problems like foods, water, electricity”.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the tweets or claims made by people saying they were held hostage.

Raghuwanshi did not respond to an email seeking comment while Imam could not be reached for a comment.

(Reuters)

Congress Asks M.J. Akbar To Either Give Satisfactory Explanation Or Quit

Congress spokesperson also questioned external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s silence on the issue, saying she is evading responsibility and is not prepared to comment on her subordinate.

New Delhi: The Congress said on Wednesday, October 10, Union minister M.J. Akbar must either offer a satisfactory explanation on the allegations of sexual harassment against him or resign immediately.

The party also demanded an inquiry into his conduct.

As the #MeToo campaign gathered momentum in India, some women journalists have come out and accused Akbar, a former editor and now the minister of state for external affairs, of sexually harassing them during his stint as a journalist.

Also read: M.J. Akbar, Minister and Former Editor, Sexually Harassed and Molested Me

Congress spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy, in a press conference, said, “I think Mr M.J. Akbar must either offer a satisfactory explanation or resign forthwith. How can he be in the ministry with serious allegations being levelled against him by responsible journalists who worked with him. Let there be an inquiry into it. We demand an inquiry into M.J. Akbar’s conduct.”

Reddy also questioned External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s silence on the issue, saying she is evading responsibility and is not prepared to comment on her subordinate.

(PTI)

India Becoming a Fundamental Pillar of Multilateralism: UN Secretary-General

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in New Delhi on Monday and said that the UN should work with India, support its development plans and back its leadership in regard to climate change and the sustainable development goals.

New Delhi: On his maiden visit to India as UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres on Monday said it is impossible to build a multipolar world without a very relevant role of India.

He also lauded India, saying it is becoming a fundamental pillar of multilateralism.

“India is becoming a fundamental pillar of multilateralism, and at the same time, as we want a multipolar world, it is impossible to build a multipolar world without a very relevant role of India,” Guterres said.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the UN House, Guterres said India is now becoming a global power and is batting for a comprehensive approach towards development.

He said the UN should work with India, support its development plans and back its leadership in regard to climate change and sustainable development goals.

Guterres arrived here Monday as the head of the world body, and his visit coincides with the commencement of events marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The UN chief will meet the top leadership of the country, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is likely to discuss key global issues such as climate change and terrorism during his three-day visit.

Ahead of his visit, the UN chief told PTI that India is an “important partner” of the UN in countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism.

Guterres also said there are plans to step up cooperation between the UN and India on strengthening capacity in combating terror financing.

During his visit, Guterres will participate in the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention and call on Modi Tuesday.

He will also deliver a lecture at the India Habitat Centre on the theme, ‘Global challenges, global solutions’.

On Tuesday, the UN chief will meet Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and participate in the second re-invest and first assembly of the International Solar Alliance, and energy ministers meet of the Indian Ocean Rim Association member countries.

On October 3, Guterres will attend the ‘Champions of Earth’ ceremony here and meet external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

The same day, he will visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar and leave for New York in the early hours of October 4.

Guterres had visited India in July 2016, just months ahead of the election for secretary-general.

Imran Khan Writes to Narendra Modi, Wants to Re-Start Bilateral Talks

In the letter dated September 14, the cricketer-turned-politician, who became the prime minister last month, proposed a meeting between foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, the Foreign Office said here Thursday, seeking to re-start the bilateral talks on key issues “challenging the relationship” including on terrorism and Kashmir.

“Building on the mutual desire for peace between our two countries, I wish to propose a meeting between Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, before the informal meeting of the SAARC foreign ministers at the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York,” Khan wrote.

Pakistan and India have an “undeniably challenging relationship”, he said, while responding to Modi’s letter to him on August 18.

In the letter to Khan, Modi conveyed India’s commitment to pursue “meaningful” and “constructive” engagement with Pakistan and emphasising the need to work for a terror-free South Asia.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said on Twitter: “PM (Imran Khan) has responded to PM Modi, in a positive spirit, reciprocating his sentiments. Let’s talk and resolve all issues. We await a formal response from India”.

In the letter to Modi, Khan wrote: “We, however, owe it to our peoples, especially the future generations, to peacefully resolve all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, to bridge differences and achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.”

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief thanked Modi for his “warm greetings” and best wishes on his assumption of charge as the prime minister of Pakistan.

The two ministers (Qureshi and Swaraj) could explore the way forward, Khan said, adding that the SAARC Summit in Islamabad “will offer an opportunity for you to visit Pakistan and for us to re-start the stalled dialogue process”.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan-based terror groups since January 2016. Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over the Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had pulled out of the SAARC Summit to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the meet.

Modi Government Has a Dismal Track Record on Absconding Billionaires

The status of cases against the likes of Vijay Mallya, arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and former IPL chief Lalit Modi is the same as theirs – lost in transit.

Note: This article was first published on September 5, 2017 and is being republished in the light of Vijay Mallya’s statement that he met finance minister Arun Jaitley before leaving India, and Jaitley’s confirmation of this meeting, which he said was fleeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often boasted about his ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption and his chief aide, BJP president Amit Shah, has claimed that no scams have happened on his saheb Modi’s watch.

But do billionaire absconders like Vijay Mallya, arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and former IPL chief Lalit Modi get “special handling”? And are the facts at par with the crackdown on corruption jumla?

Consider the following cases.

In December of last year, Bhandari, following in the footsteps of Mallya, managed to slip out of the country and is believed to be in London where Mallya is also based.

Authoritative sources confirmed that Mallya was tipped off about his imminent arrest by the ruling party, since after showing up in parliament in the Zero Hour, he left the country accompanied by his partner and masses of designer luggage in March last year. A senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) official described Mallya’s slipping away as “an assisted escape.”

On March 1, 2016, Mallya – who held a diplomatic passport by virtue of being a member of parliament – whizzed through immigration with ease and boarded the London-bound Jet Airways flight 9W-122 from New Delhi. He flew first class and had booked the entire cabin for himself and his companion. Mallya was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2010 as an independent candidate from Karnataka with the help of the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular).

He showed up at the release of a book by socialite Suhel Seth titled Mantras for Success: India’s Greatest CEOs Tell You How to Win on June 16, 2016, in London’s South Asia Centre of the London School of Economics, and tried to accost Navtej Sarna, the then high commissioner of India to the UK, causing him huge embarrassment.

Sarna left the event after spotting Seth. After I wrote on the subject, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, was forced to issue a clarification that Sarna had left the venue after seeing Mallya. Attempts were made to pretend that Mallaya had “gate crashed” the event “uninvited”. This came to naught and did not spare the government any blushes as it was angrily denied by Mallya himself who said on Twitter that he had gone to the event because he was “invited”.

A similar situation unfolded with Bhandari, who is considered the best networked arms dealer in the country had a host of top-level connections, including those with a senior editor of one of Delhi’s largest newspapers. The Income Tax authorities discovered that the editor, known to be exceptionally close to the current establishment in the BJP, had exchanged 500 calls with Bhandari when the Augusta deal was being negotiated.

Interestingly, despite requests from the Income Tax (IT) department, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Intelligence Bureau, which asked Delhi police to register a case under Sections 3 and 5 of the Officials Secrets Act after classified papers of the defence ministry were found during a raid at Bhandari’s residence in April 2016, the case doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Bhandari was allegedly linked to Robert Vadra – the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi – after IT sleuths found an email trail linking the two. Vadra, via his lawyers, has denied these claims. The ED attached Rs 21 crores of Bhandari’s assets in June this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, however, the government does not have answers to Bhandari whereabouts and its plans to bring him back. The circumstances under which he fled are themselves circumstances with sources telling the New Indian Express in December 2016:

Sources said Bhandari was always a step ahead of law enforcement agencies owing to his deep bureaucratic and political network and he must have been tipped off about his imminent arrest. “The cops wanted him. The enforcement agencies, including I-T department and Enforcement Directorate were probing into his companies allegedly involved in round-tripping of slush funds. But, despite multi-agencies’ eyes on him, Bhandari proved to be well advised and fled without leaving any trace,” the sources said.

According to a senior official, “Bhandari is the key link to the biggest political players in India. We need to be serious to ensure his return as he was a cross-party player. So far, the government has only allowed us to touch the tip of the iceberg.”

Despite the editor being outed publicly with his phone records, the newspaper has taken no action against him. Both Bhandari and Mallya seemed to be privy to planned official action against them as Mallya had got to know that senior counsel Dushyant Dave on February 28, 2016, had advised the State Bank of India (SBI) to ask the courts to retrain Mallya from leaving.

Curiously, the SBI took its time to act but Mallya did not. The CBI also told the Supreme Court that it had “downgraded” its lookout notice against Mallya from him being stopped at airports to immigration authorities “merely informing the CBI of the fact that he had taken a flight.”

The original lookout notice for Mallya was issued on October 16, 2015. This was surprisingly amended a month later on November 24, 2015. Why it was modified remains a mystery to this day.

The NDA government is clearly very kind to billionaire absconders. Earlier, in June 2015, it became known that Swaraj had helped procure IPL czar Lalit’s travel papers after his passport was cancelled. She said that she had helped him on “humanitarian grounds”.

Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan chief minister, had given a “witness statement” in favour of her friend Lalit. Currently the ED is investigating 16 cases against him and has issued show cause notices in 15 cases.

So while the billionaires continue to abscond, the status of the cases against them is the same as their status – lost in transit.

Swati Chaturvedi is a senior journalist and author based in Delhi. She tweets at @bainjal.

India Urges US to Take ‘Balanced, Sensitive’ View on H-1B Visa Issue

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj laid emphasis on ‘people-to-people’ links and urged the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to take a ‘balanced and sensitive’ view regarding the issue of the H-1B visa policy.

New Delhi: India on Thursday urged the US to take a “balanced and sensitive” view on the issue of proposed changes in America’s H-1B visa policy, saying it could affect the people-to-people links that are crucial for energising bilateral ties.

During the first 2+2 dialogue between the two countries, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sought US Secretary of State Micheal Pompeo’s support for nurturing people-to-people exchanges. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Defence Secretary James Mattis also took part in the talks.

Addressing a joint press conference, Swaraj said, “I have requested Secretary Pompeo to adopt a balanced and sensitive view on the issue of proposed changes in the H-1 B visa regime as this could effect the people-to-people links which are important for energising ties.”

She said that in view of the friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, Indians feel the US will not do anything against their interests.

“I have asked him (Pompeo) that he should make sure that people continue to have this confidence,” she said.

A joint statement issued after the talks said the ministers highlighted the unmatched people-to-people ties between their countries and recognised the benefits to both nations and the world from these ties, including the free flow of ideas and collaboration in health, space, oceans, and other areas of science and technology.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The Trump administration is pushing for a reform of the H-1B system, saying some IT companies were abusing the US work visas to deny jobs to American workers.

The US, however, had recently extended by over five months the temporary suspension of premium processing for H1-B visas as part of its efforts to clear the backlog.

The H1-B visa has a numerical limit cap of 65,000 each fiscal year as mandated by the US Congress. The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the cap.

Additionally, H1-B workers who are petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education or its affiliated or related nonprofit entities or a nonprofit research organisation or a government research organisation are not subject to this numerical cap.

In July, a report by an American non-profit body claimed that there has been a substantial increase in denial of H-1B visa petitions of Indians by the US Immigration authority as compared to people of other nationalities.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), between 2007 and 2017, it received the maximum number of 2.2 million H-1B petitions from high-skilled Indians.

(PTI)

US, India to Discuss ‘Big and Strategic’ Items During First 2+2 Dialogue: Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserted that the primary focus of the meeting was not about India’s plans to buy a Russian missile defence system and oil from Iran.

Washington: The US and India have “big and strategic” items to discuss during the first 2+2 Dialogue, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who asserted that the primary focus of the meeting was not about India’s plans to buy a Russian missile defence system and oil from Iran.

Pompeo and defence secretary Jim Mattis are headed to India for the talks on Thursday with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“They are (missile system purchase from Russia and oil from Iran) part of the conversation. They are part of the relationship.”

“They will certainly come up, but I don’t think they will be the primary focus of what it is we are trying to accomplish here,” Pompeo said on Tuesday to a question from reporters who are travelling with him to Pakistan and then to India.

India is expected to convey to the US during the dialogue that it is going ahead to procure from Russia five S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for nearly USD 4.5 billion.

“There are half-a-dozen things on the agenda that we are really intent on making progress on. Those decisions are important, they are important to the relationship for sure, but I don’t see us resolving those or having the intention to resolve those during this set of meetings of the strategic dialogue.

“They are really about things that are big and strategic and will go on for 20, 40, 50 years. Those are the kinds of topics that secretary Mattis and I are hoping to address not that those are not important, but they are not part of the structural relationship between the two countries,” Pompeo said.

Last month, the Pentagon ruled out an automatic waiver for India from the punitive US sanctions over its weapons purchase from Russia, saying Washington has concerns over the Russian missile defence system deal.

Randall G. Schriver, assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, said: “I can’t sit here and tell you today that a (CAATSA) waiver would necessarily be used (for India). It would be a topic discussed at the highest level of our government and they would make some determination.”

The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) waiver is intended at preventing US sanctions on countries like India.

Mattis has publicly been a strong proponent of granting India waivers from sanctions.

Pompeo regretted that the 2+2 dialogue had to be postponed twice in the past.

The format of the 2+2 dialogue was agreed upon between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in June 2017.

“I regret it was my fault the second time. I had to travel to Pyongyang. But secretary Mattis and I are both looking forward to this,” the top American diplomat said.

The twice-delayed dialogue was earlier scheduled for July 6 in Washington, but was postponed by the US on June 27, citing “unavoidable reasons”.

“We have a true strategic partner who, frankly, is our only ‘Major Defence Partner’, the only designated ‘Major Defence Partner’, with whom we have a great relationship and who is very important to our success in our Indo-Pacific strategy, an enormous country with incredible opportunity and capacity for wealth creation.

“We hope we can find opportunities to continue to expand the relationship not only through diplomacy and military-to-military contact but with a good set of business relationships as well,” Pompeo added.

The US has told India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to “zero” by November 4 or face sanctions, making it clear that there would be no waivers to anyone.

Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Iran supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil during April 2017 and January 2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal).

The 2+2 Dialogue is taking place amid the Chinese People’s Liberation Army flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region.

The US said in April that its vision of a free and open Indo Pacific, which is supported by India, is not so much about countering any particular country.

China claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims over the area.

China recently deployed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-surface missile systems in the disputed South China Sea amid frequent forays by US naval and surveillance aircraft over the region to assert the freedom of navigation especially around the artificial islands built by China, where it has also established garrisons.

(PTI)

Two High-Level Government Committees to Deal With Mob Violence, Lynching

The move came a week after the Supreme Court asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching and take action on mob violence.

New Delhi: Two high-level committees have been constituted by the central government to suggest ways and a legal framework to effectively deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching, the home ministry said today.

One of the committees is being headed by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and the other by Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba.

The move came a week after the Supreme Court asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching and take action on mob violence.

The government respects the recent directions of the Supreme Court on the issue of mob violence and has issued an advisory to state governments urging them to take effective measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching and take stringent action as per the law, a home ministry spokesperson said.

In order to formulate appropriate measures to address the situation, the government has set up a high-level committee chaired by Union home secretary Gauba to deliberate upon the matter and make recommendations.

The secretaries of the justice, legal affairs, legislative, and social justice and empowerment departments are members of the committee.

The committee will submit its recommendations to the government within four weeks.

The government has also decided to constitute a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the home minister to consider the recommendations of the high-level committee of the secretaries, the spokesperson said.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and social justice and empowerment minister Thawar Chand Gehlot are members of the GoM.

The GoM will submit its recommendations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to the incidents of the mob violence and lynching, the ministry spokesperson said the Centre is concerned over incidents of violence by mobs in some parts of the country.

The government has already condemned such incidents and made its stand clear in Parliament that it is committed to uphold the rule of law and adopt effective measures to curb such incidents.

‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are state subjects as per the Constitutional scheme and state governments are responsible for controlling crime, maintaining law and order, and protecting the life and property of the citizens, the spokesperson said.

They are empowered to enact and enforce laws to curb crime in their jurisdiction.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Home Affairs has, from time to time, issued advisories to states and Union Territories for maintenance of public order and prevention of crime in their areas of jurisdiction.

An advisory on addressing the issue of lynching on suspicion of child lifting was issued on July 4, 2018.

Earlier, an advisory was issued on August 9, 2016, on disturbances by miscreants in the name of protection of cow.

State governments have been advised to implement the directions issued in the matter by the Supreme Court on July 17, 2018.

Condemning the rise in incidents of lynching, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday asked the government to enact a law to deal such cases.

The apex court also made the Centre and the state governments accountable for mob violence and lynching and asked them to take steps to curb and stop the dissemination of irresponsible and explosive messages and videos on social media platforms which incite such incidents.

(PTI)

BRICS Nations Stand Against the ‘New Wave of Protectionism’

Emerging countries like India, China, Brazil and Russia, have been asking for increased voting rights in IMF, which would reflect their growing share in world economy.

Pretoria: BRICS nations on June 4 said they oppose the “new wave of protectionism” and the systematic impact of unilateral measures that are incompatible with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, apparently referring to US President Donald Trump’s tough trade policies.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who is on a five-day trip to South Africa, attended the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) foreign ministers’ meeting.

After the meeting, the foreign affairs ministers of BRICS nations reiterated BRICS commitment to multilateralism and a rules-based international order and in this regard reaffirmed the centrality of the UN, the WTO and international law.

The ministers pledged their support to efforts towards making global governance more representative with greater participation of emerging markets and developing countries in global decision making.

The ministers emphasised the importance of an open and inclusive world economy enabling all countries and peoples to share the benefits of globalisation, a statement released after the meeting said.

They underlined their firm commitment to free trade, and the centrality of a rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, multilateral trading system as embodied in the WTO, the statement said.

They opposed the new wave of protectionism and the systematic impact of unilateral measures that are incompatible with WTO rules and undermines global trade and economic growth.

“They reiterated that the WTO Dispute Settlement System is a cornerstone of the multilateral trading system (MTS) as it is designed to enhance security and predictability in international trade,” the statement said.

The statement came as Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from top US trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union. He has threatened tariffs on up to USD 200 billion in Chinese imports, raising the potential of a trade war.

The BRICS ministers reaffirmed their resolve to foster a global economic governance architecture that is more effective and reflective of the current global economic landscape, increasing the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing economies, it said.

They reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the International Monetary Fund’s 15th General Review of Quotas, including a new quota formula, by the 2019 Spring Meetings.

The emerging countries, like India, China, Brazil and Russia, has been asking for increased voting rights in IMF, which would reflect their growing share in world economy.

They also deplored the continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS countries. They condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever.

“They urged concerted efforts to counter terrorism under the UN auspices on a firm international legal basis, and expressed their conviction that a comprehensive approach was necessary to ensure effective fight against terrorism,” the statement said.

“They recalled the responsibility of all States to prevent financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories,” it said.

They expressed concern over the ongoing conflict and heightened tensions in the Middle-East region, especially with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

India Does Not Agree With Trump’s ‘Me First’ Approach: Swaraj

Referring to Trump’s speech at the UN in September last year, she quipped that the world was reeling under a storm of protectionism but India believed in the concept of we, us and ourselves.

New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today warned that the world was reeling under a storm of protectionism and said India did not agree with American President Donald Trump’s “me first” approach on the issue.

India, she stressed, believed in the concept of “we, us and ourselves”.

“I was sad when President Trump, in the UN General Assembly, said his slogan was me first,” the external affairs minister said.

She was referring to Trump’s speech at the UN in September last year when he had said, “As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always, put your countries first.”

“There is a storm of protectionism at the global level which is centred around the concept of me and myself but India believes in the concept of we, us and ourselves. If everyone views the other as equal then there is no place for protectionism in it,” she said.

Swaraj was delivering the first Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Memorial international lecture on ‘soft power diplomacy: strength of india’, organised by the ICCR.

After Trump’s speech, Swaraj said she had a meeting with ministers of Latin American and Caribbean states.

“A foreign minister of a small country spoke about President Trump’s speech of ‘me first’. She said if everyone says (and follows the policy) of ‘me first’ then how will my country sustain.”

Swaraj said she pointed out that India had a different approach.

“I said India does not have the tradition of (following the policy of) ‘me first’. I said my speech will have (the concept of) Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah,” she said, quoting a sloka from the Vedas that translates into “May everyone be happy”. “When everyone is happy then everyone will have the provision of food and security,” she said.

The minister said India believed in the policy of assisting other countries, especially those who required a helping hand. “If we don’t do this, then developed countries will continue to grow and under-developed countries will remain under-developed. So how will economic disparity reduce,” she asked.

Swaraj also said that Indian culture, yoga, classical dance, movies, cuisine and information technology were a “treasure of soft power”.

Narrating anecdotes about the craze for Indian films abroad, the external affairs minister said the passion was not restricted to Hindi cinema but extended to regional language films such as ‘Bahubali’.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping wanted Dangal to be screened at the BRICS summit at Xiamen. The Indian ambassador in Mongolia wanted the movie dubbed in Mongolian as wrestling is the national sport of that country. When I met Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh of Mongolia , he said he wanted to be an actor in Bollywood. To this, I quipped we need handsome leaders in politics too,” she said.

Swaraj said during bilateral meetings, foreign delegations proposed that the Bollywood industry shoot in their countries as it boosted tourism.

She also shared an anecdote on how leaders in the recently held India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit came up with a demand for a song from the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai‘ and for ‘Bol Radha Bol Sangam‘ from the 1964 Raj Kapoor-starrer ‘Sangam‘.