Foreign tours are supposed to continue to dominate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s calendar for the rest of the year.
After Modi returns from his six-nation tour of Central Asia and Russia, he will be in India for only two months before leaving for the US at the end of September. Modi is scheduled to speak at the UN on September 25. This time the PM is expected to visit more areas in the west coast of US and a community outreach event to the like of the earlier one at Madison Square Garden could happen in the Indian-rich Silicon Valley. Planners of the event once again expect a roaring response.
In mid-November, Modi is supposed to visit Anatalya, Turkey on November 15-16 for the G-20 summit. Then, on November 21-22, he has on hands the East Asia Summit and Asean-India summit in Malaysia. With Modi making his intention of visiting as many countries as possible clear, it is expected that he would drop by another country in the vicinity.
Modi is also expected to be in the UK for a bilateral visit in November. Another mega community event is being planned here. Modi is also expected to visit the Gulf countries, where 7 million Indians live and work, before his trip to Israel in 2016.
Moreover, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam are all awaiting Modi to pay them a visit and the Prime Minister could oblige during his visit to Malaysia.
Modi has come under severe criticism lately for his ‘excessive’ foreign travels, even though stats indicate he is not travelling much more than erstwhile PM Manmohan Singh. Voices from both the government and outside are calling for Modi to spend more time in India in order to push through crucial economic decisions.