Skipping The Show: Why PM Modi’s Absence At Trump’s Sharm el-Sheikh Summit Was A Wise Move

PM Modi’s presence in Sharm el-Sheikh event could have meant the prime minister hearing Trump’s incorrect claims in person. (PTI)

Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi do well to not travel for the Sharm el-Sheikh event of Donald Trump? While some like Shashi Tharoor have advocated that Modi should have been present, the event turned into a rather comical ‘praise-fest’ for Donald Trump, showing that arguably it was better in hindsight for the Indian prime minister to skip it.

Trump called Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on stage to speak in Sharm el-Sheikh where Sharif indulged in rather public flattery which went beyond praise under diplomatic protocols. Sharif recommended Trump again for the Nobel Peace Prize. He also asked Sharif on stage whether India and Pakistan will “live very nicely together” while Sharif yet again thanked Trump for ending the India-Pakistan conflict earlier this May. This would have been a rather discomforting scenario for the Indian prime minister who has consistently told Trump that US had no role in the ceasefire struck between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. PM Modi’s presence in Sharm el-Sheikh event could have meant the prime minister hearing Trump’s incorrect claims in person.

India chose to send minister of state in external affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, for the Sharm el-Sheikh event where he shared the stage with Trump during a customary photo-op. Trump did say that “India is a great country… a very good friend”. But the repeated standing ovations to Trump by world leaders, and especially the effusive praise done by Sharif who was called on the stage by Trump, would have not suited India’s diplomatic stance. Some in government said if Trump had called out both Sharif and the Indian PM to the stage together, it would have been a rather awkward situation for PM Modi. Remember, India has termed Pakistan as the state-sponsor of terror.

In June, the prime minister had avoided a ‘diplomatic ambush’ by rejecting Trump’s invite to Modi to stop-over in Washington while he was returning from Canada. India knew that Trump had also invited Pakistan Field Marshall Asim Munir to the White House on the same day as PM Modi. There was a possibility that Trump may have brought Munir and the Indian PM together, which India wanted to avoid at any cost. Modi told Trump then that he was pre-scheduled to travel to Croatia. This time, the PM was to meet the Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa in Delhi as Ukhnaa arrived in India on a state visit. So, India had a valid reason to not commit to a last-minute invite.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, meanwhile, questioned if the PM’s absence at Sharm el-Sheikh was “strategic restraint or missed opportunity”. Tharoor said that 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. “In a region reshaping itself, our relative absence is puzzling,” Tharoor said. But given that Sharm El-Sheikh event seemed rather choreographed for dramatic effect, Modi skipping it was perhaps wise.