A bust of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised in Italy allegedly by Khalistani extremists on Wednesday just hours after its inauguration. The accused also wrote controversial slogans related to Khalisatni terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on the base of the bust. The incident came days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy to attend G 7 summit on Friday.
Meanwhile, after the incident, the local authorities said the area was cleaned up in “record time”. The Indian Government flagged the issue to their Italian counterparts.
According to Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra here, Modi will be travelling to Italy’s Apulia on Thursday to participate in the summit at the invite of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Speaking about the incident, Foreign Secretary Kwatra said the Indian authorities raised the matter of Mahatma Gandhi’s status being vandalised before Italian officials. Meanwhile, giving details about the Prime Minister’s schedule in Italy, Kwatra said Modi will travel to Italy on Thursday to attend the annual summit of G7 advanced economies. It will be his first foreign visit after assuming office.
Kwatra said Modi’s participation in the G7 summit would provide an opportunity to follow up on outcomes of the G20 summit held under India’s presidency last year.
The G7 summit, to be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy’s Apulia region from June 13 to 15, is likely to be dominated by the raging war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the top leaders attending the summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also scheduled for a session on the Russian invasion of his country.
“We have always maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the best option to resolve it,” Kwatra said when asked about the Ukraine conflict.
The foreign secretary said India’s regular participation in the G7 summit points to increasing recognition of New Delhi’s efforts to address global challenges.
Prime Minister Modi will be accompanied by a high-level delegation that is likely to include External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and National Security Advisor(NSA) Ajit Doval, it was learnt.
The prime minister is set to hold a number of bilateral meetings including with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Modi had attended the previous G7 summit in Hiroshima in May last year.
On the sidelines of the summit, he had held talks with Zelenskyy and a number of other leaders.
The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Italy is holding the current presidency of the G7 (Group of Seven) and is hosting the summit in that capacity.
A key focus of the Italian presidency has been to defend the rules-based international system.
Russia’s military action in Ukraine has undermined its principles and triggered growing instability, with multiple crises unfolding worldwide, according to Italy. The G7 will give equal importance to the conflict in the Middle East, with its consequences for the global agenda, it says.
The bloc expanded into the G8 between 1997 and 2013, with the inclusion of Russia. However, Russia’s participation was suspended in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
In line with its tradition, representatives of a number of countries and international organisations are invited to the summit by the host nation that holds the chair.
Besides India, Italy has invited leaders from 11 developing countries in Africa, South America and the Indo-Pacific region to attend the summit. Though the European Union is not a member of the G7, it attends the annual summit.
Meanwhile, responding to a question, Kwatra said India will participate in the peace summit in Switzerland at an appropriate level. Kwatra did not specify who will represent India at the summit.
