G-20 Summit | PM Sunak Saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’…’: UK Envoy on India’s Rise in Global Order – News18

Ahead of the highly touted G-20 Summit in Delhi, British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said that India’s gravitas and standing on the global stage can be weighed in by the fact a UK Prime Minister of Indian origin Rishi Sunak said “Jai Shri Ram” on India’s Independence Day.

He said it was once unimaginable for English people that someone staying at 10 Downing Street, on August 15, would say something like ‘Jai Shri Ram.’

“Did you ever imagine one day a person staying at 10 Downing Street, on August 15, would say Jai Shri Ram? Lord Curzon would have choked,” Ellis told NDTV.

The envoy said another factor in analysing India’s role in the world order is to learn how to conduct the G-20 Presidency from it.

The English diplomat remarked at the NDTV G20 Conclave on Saturday while talking about the significance of India’s G-20 presidency and the impact it would create in the world.

“India has broken the mould on how to do the G20 presidency – the scale and ambition to tackle big problems of the world, like global hunger, low growth and poverty,” Ellis was quoted as saying by NDTV.

“The other is how Britain’s Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Jai Shri Ram on August 15, India’s Independence Day,” he added.

Meanwhile, in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed that India is fully prepared to hold the G20 leaders summit, as heads of 40 countries and many global organisations are all set to arrive in Delhi to participate in the event next month.

This will be the biggest participation ever in the history of the G20 Summit, he said.

“Our presidency of the G20 is a people’s presidency, in which the spirit of public participation is at the forefront,” Prime Minister Modi added.

On Saturday, the prime minister urged the people of Delhi to help make the upcoming G20 Summit a success despite the inconvenience they might have to face due to the presence of several world leaders here next month. Modi also apologised to the people of Delhi for the inconvenience that would be caused to them.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

The members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.