Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated a “firm belief in cooperative federalism and bipartisanship” when it comes to national interest and said that the same spirit can be seen in the country’s G20 presidency too.

In an interview with CNBC TV18’s moneycontrol.com ahead of the meeting of heads of the governments and states of the intergovernmental forum G20 in New Delhi over the weekend, Modi referred to a certain reluctance historically in the power circles to think beyond Delhi for hosting national and international meets. He added this may have been due to convenience or lack of confidence in the people.

Modi said 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. I have hosted several engagements with global leaders around the country.”

Modi said the then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel was hosted in Bengaluru in 2015. “French President Emmanuel Macron [2018] and the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Varanasi [2015]. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was hosted in Goa and Mumbai [2020]. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Shantiniketan [2018]. The then-French President Francois Hollande visited Chandigarh [2016].”

Modi said many global meets have also been held outside Delhi. “The Global Entrepreneurship Summit was held in Hyderabad [2017]. India hosted the BRICS Summit in Goa [2016] and the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Corporation Summit in Jaipur [2015]. I can go on quoting examples, but the pattern that you can observe here is that this is a great change from the prevailing approach.”

He said the examples of many of the venues of the meetings he cited were in states with non-National Democratic Alliance governments. “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 cited the G20 meetings held in 60 cities across all 28 states and 8 Union territories and said they involved over 100,000 participants from approximately 125 nationalities. “Over 15 million individuals in our country have been involved in these programmes or have been exposed to various aspects of them. Holding meetings of such 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.” He said they believe people’s participation is the most important factor in the success of any initiative.

India has hosted global leaders and a series of meetings related to 32 sectors across the country since assuming the G20 presidency in December. The events will culminate with the meeting of heads of the governments and states of the world’s 20 largest economies in New Delhi on September 9-10.