Indian PM Narendra Modi has taken a whole-of-Government approach

he first round of meeting among G20 members got off to a rather colourful start earlier this week with traditional Rajasthani turbans, scarves and jackets gifted to visiting delegates in the western Indian city of Udaipur. The event kicked off several official dialogues, networking opportunities for the G20 nation sherpas, 14 participating international organisations and nine guest countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a whole-of-government approach to what it has dubbed as one of a kind event in the history of independent India. The narrative is of India finding its rightful place on global agenda setting tables, now being the fifth largest economy, moving quickly to be the third in a few years’ time.

The current government has a lot at stake in getting the messages right to a global decision making group who are likely to be part of the 200 plus plenary discussions in the run up to the leaders’ summit in New Delhi in September 2023. However, an equal stakeholder in the G20 presidency is the domestic audience, who in turn, will be gearing up for one of the largest exercises in the largest democracy of the world political map, the general elections of 2024.

Prime Minister, therefore, wasted no time after casting his vote in Gujarat assembly elections to rush back to Delhi for an all-party meet on India’s G20 presidency. He has urged all key parties to be a stakeholder in India’s presidency and showcase the strengths of India. A careful selection of venues dotted across the Indian subcontinent from northeast, right into the islands of Andaman has been planned to ensure a full experience of India for the visiting delegates.

The central government offices, state government and every public institution has been requested to start displaying some branding related to India’s G 20 presidency and carefully plan regional events, aligning them with proposed plenary meetings. Plenaries have been planned keeping in mind important religious, cultural or social events in the states across India. The message is that the delegates of today are tourists of tomorrow.

One will expect a large amount of G20 branded content in cities /districts hosting these meetings, subtly pushing the message of India taking its “rightful” place on the geopolitical map. The political dividends, at least domestically, have not been overlooked and Modi ensured he held a meeting with key post bearers of the ruling party.

India has been the voice of the global South (an informal alliance of developing nations primarily in Asia and Africa, who may not be aligned with West or Russia, China worldview). This may have looked like India revisiting the cold war non-aligned movement ideology.

However, it may be worth noting that the days of Non-aligned Movement kind of grouping may be over and India, as it champions about reformed multilateralism, could bring a new interpretation to agile diplomacy while it negotiates and finds commonalities with the developed western countries and put across the pressing needs of the developing world. India has highlighted key themes of its presidency earlier this week, including technological transformation, green development and lifestyle for environment, climate financing and associated reform for multilateral finance institutions.

India would highlight its indigenously developed digital public goods stack to the global audience in the coming days. On the domestic front, India has moved the needle to designing the legal framework for the digital ecosystem (a key showcase during its presidency). As of now it is going to be a busy season for all major airports across the country.

(The author is a foreign affairs commentator)