(MENAFN- The Arabian Post) By Nitya Chakraborty

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending G20 summit at Johannesburg on November 22 and 23 amidst the diplomatic crisis for India over the Bangladesh demand for deportation of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from her shelter in India. On November 17, the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh indicted Hasina on charges of acting against humanity and ordered death penalty to the Awami League supremo for her alleged crimes.

Though Bangladesh is not a member of G20 and Pakistan is also not attending, Bangladesh officials have already briefed the Dhaka based ambassadors of the western nations as also the other countries of the Global South and West Asia. Pakistan has got a big opportunity to defame India on this occasion. There is a concerted campaign in the international diplomatic world by Bangladesh focusing on India's refusal so far to hand over Sheikh Hasina to the Yunus government as per their demand. The issue is sure to be raised at the G-20 summit by some Muslim nations.

That is why Indian Prime Minister has to be prepared fully with foolproof documentary evidence that the ICT set up by the Bangladesh Government to go into charges against Sheikh Hasina was a sham. The ICT had no legal sanctity and from the beginning, the process of the ICT violated all the established norms of functioning of such tribunals. Indian officials are sufficiently equipped to challenge the Bangladesh version on Sheikh Hasina and refuse deportation of the Awami League leader who is again active from Indian soil and is in fact leading the latest campaign against the chief of the interim government in Bangladesh.

Narendra Modi has got one advantage. US President Donald Trump has boycotted the G-20 summit by alleging that South Africa was harassing the whites and the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is encouraging the racists. Though, the South African President has denied the allegations and trump could not give any proof, Trump decided that the US would not be represented by any. So there will be no official from the US for the first time in G-20 summit. Significantly, the next g20 summit is scheduled to be hosted by the USA in 2026 in Miami. The latest stance of Trump has led to uncertainty in G-20 summit circles about the holding of the next summit in Miami in USA. There are reports that the 2026 summit may be rescheduled to some other country if Trump continues with his present stance.

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Apart from Trump, the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be at the summit but both the countries will be represented at the next highest level. All other leaders of the western nations are attending including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emanuel Macron, German Chancellor Frederick Merc, Italian Prime Minister G Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Michael Carney. The interesting point is that while Trump is boycotting the Johannesburg summit on the issue of attacks against the Whites, the original Whites who settled in South Africa, the Britishers, are not complaining. The British PM Starmer kept mum on Trump's allegations. It was against the British whites, the African National Congress fought and most of the Whites who are staying in South Africa are of British origin, but PM Keir Starmer did not share the politically motivated allegations by Trump against the South African President. As a result, the USA is now isolated from the other western nations on this issue.

The absence of Trump at the summit has made the Indian Prime Minister tension free as he has been avoiding facing one on one meeting with Trump in the recent months following the US-India tariff war and the four day India-Pakistan short war in May this year. PM might use his full time during the two days of the summit in having bilateral discussions with the member countries heads apart from attending the sessions of the summit and conveying India's perspective on the issues facing the world in general and global South in particular. Already in 2023, Indian PM hosted the G-20 summit in New Delhi. India is the country with the strongest economy among the developing democratic nations. The Global South members including the host South Africa will look for what the Indian PM says in his address in the context of the continuing tariff war between India and the USA and worsening of personal relations between Narendra Modi and Donald trump.

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Prime Minister is expected to have bilateral meetings with the new Japanese Prime Minister and the Canadian Prime Minister Michael Carney. In recent days, India's relations with Canada have improved. The foreign minister of Canada Anita Anand visited India recently and had meeting with the Indian PM apart from the external affairs minister Dr. S Jaishankar. But still the delicate issues of Indian involvement in hit actions in Canada remain. A bilateral meeting may help in removing some of the misapprehensions still damaging India-Canada relations.

The Johannesburg Summit has been prepared in accordance with the philosophy of the last three summits held in Jakarta, New Delhi, and Rio de Janeiro. It will make its own contribution by underlining the African dimension across development agendas. During 2023 G20 summit hosted by Narendra Modi, African Union was made a full member of G20. The present summit of 2025 is expected to expand the areas of cooperation and collaboration between the African nations as also between the developed countries and the African Union.

The South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is making special efforts to implement the theme Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability into concrete action programmes through summit declaration. He is looking for using the 2025 summit to open a new chapter in the development of the African nations which are still laggard in comparison to other parts of the developing world including Latin America and Asia. For the Indian Prime Minister however, the most crucial task during the Johannesburg summit is to win the perception war against Bangladesh on the issue of Sheikh Hasina. (IPA Service)

The article Winning Perception Battle Against Bangladesh Is The Main Task Of Narendra Modi At G-20 Summit appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

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