Modi’s decision on not attending the G 7 summit scheduled in Cornwall was announced by the Ministry of External Affairs. “While appreciating the invitation to the Prime Minister from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to attend the G 7 summit as a Special invitee, given the prevailing COVID situation, it has been decided that the Prime Minister will not attend the summit in person,” said the MEA Spokesperson, Mr Arindam Bagchi, in response to media queries.
Political observers say that Modi is trying very hard to prove that the PM really cares for India by churning out favourable vaccine statistics; more so, since he is getting tremendous flak for the ham-handed handling of the Covid second wave.
In this scenario, a visit to UK would have also meant having to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions posed by world leaders and global media on India’s healthcare crisis.
Only yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a note of caution and pointed to the need to monitor new variants of coronavirus, including the so-called ‘Indian variant’ which has now been classed as a Variant of Concern (VOC) by Public Health England (PHE).
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