During the Sino-Indian war of 1962 when the Chinese army first intruded into India in the Thagla area in September, Nehru, the then Prime Minister of independent India was attending the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference in London, he did not return back immediately to take charge as the head of the Defence committee of the cabinet during the Chinese incursion but what was even more startling was the fact that Nehru proceeded further from London to Lagos, Nigeria in the hour of crisis and returned home only on 2nd October when the war was irreversible, to make matters worse he appointed BM Kaul his cousin as the General and instead of leading the country he left for Colombo, Ceylon on 12th October absenting himself from the helm of affairs when the country was in dire straits and needed him most. Fifty years have passed and that very dynastic regiment now sits in the opposition pondering on the effectiveness of foreign trips.
Ever since the May 2014 Lok sabha elections the numerous foreign trips of Prime Minister Modi has been the talk of the town with rumours doing the rounds on social media often questioning and quashing the purpose and benefits it has brought back to the nation irrespective of the billions of business and global image makeover that it has given Indians, not that the previous prime ministers did not travel enough but the intentions and aspirations are out in the open for all to judge. Back then the Prime ministers of post independent India travelled reckoning and receding to the western benefits accepting and accommodating their diktats, whose travel or treachery nor travesty ever made for any headlines but today here is an Indian prime minister whose trip to US or UK creates nostalgic history, whose aura augers well with his audience, the charismatic connect that he brings with the common man and more importantly his striding pace of dedication to deliver on his words is what has kept the limelight fixed on him throughout, with or without foreign trips!
Desi Herald 