Cong, JDU accuse govt of using G20 to run ‘election campaign’
New Delhi: As the dates of G20 Leaders’ Summit are coming closer, the Congress and JDU on Saturday accused the government of running an “election campaign” using the upcoming G20 meeting in India to divert people’s attention from the real issues.
Notably, the G20 Leaders’ Summit is scheduled to be held at the Bharat Mandapam International Exhibition-Convention Centre on September 9-10.
In a social media post, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “The G20 was formed in 1999 and 19 countries as well as the European Union are its members. Since its formation, the G20 summit has been held in 17 countries in turns. Now it is India’s turn.”
“But the kind of election campaign that is being run here and efforts being made to create such an atmosphere around it, has not happened in any other country. In fact, this is being done to divert the attention of the people from the important issues,” Ramesh said.
He said that India successfully organised the Non-Aligned Summit of more than 100 countries in 1983 and after that the summit of Commonwealth countries in New Delhi. But the then government did not use those opportunities for electoral gains, he said.
“Then I remember that statement of LK Advani. On April 5, 2014, he described Narendra Modi as a great event manager. To divert the attention of the public, the Prime Minister is only doing event management,” Ramesh alleged.
On the issue, JDU leader Afzal Abbas stated that the event of such level is not happening for the first time in India. “It’s just an event and there is no need to create hype for it. Using G20 events for political gains is condemnable”, he said. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU).
