‘Cooperative federalism’ behind spreading out G20 meetings, involving Oppn-ruled states: PM Modi

“Many of the examples I have quoted are of states that had non-NDA governments at the time. This is also a testament to our firm belief in cooperative federalism and bipartisanship when it comes to national interest… This is the same spirit that you can see in our G20 Presidency too,” he said in the interview, coming days before the start of the G20 Summit.

The Opposition has often accused the Modi government of centralising power and hurting federalism, such as over sharing of GST revenues, and through the growing conflicts between governors appointed by it and Opposition governments in states.

Calling India’s Presidency of G20 an exercise in “democratisation”, Modi said his government had invested in capacity building of people, especially youth, through the various meetings held across the country.

“By the end of our G20 Presidency, there will have been over 220 meetings in 60 cities across all 28 states and 8 union territories. More than 1 lakh participants from approximately 125 nationalities will have visited India. Over 1.5 crore individuals in our country have been involved in these programmes or have been exposed to various aspects of them,” the PM said.

“Holding meetings of such a scale and hosting foreign delegates is an endeavour that calls for great capacity building in terms of infrastructure, logistics, communication skills, hospitality and cultural activities, among others. Our democratisation of the G20 Presidency is our investment in the capacity building of the people, especially youth, of various cities across the country. Further, this is yet another example of our motto of Jan Bhagidari – we believe people’s participation is the most important factor in the success of any initiative,” Modi said.

“Historically, in the circles of power, there was a certain reluctance to think beyond Delhi, particularly Vigyan Bhavan, for hosting national and international meets. This may have been due to convenience or lack of confidence in the people… Further, we have also seen how even the visits of foreign leaders would be restricted to mainly the national capital or a couple of other places. Having witnessed the capabilities of the people and the wonderful diversity of our country, I developed a different perspective. So, our government has worked on changing the approach since day one,” he said, in a repeat of his message in an interview to the Press Trust of India news agency a couple of days ago.