The jamboree G-20, 2023 is over and done with. India held the rotational presidency for one full year. The curtain went down on the drama yesterday as leaders of Group of 20 Nations departed.
The highlights of the summit were;
- Many meeting took place all across the country of G-20 delegates and in most places, the host, India, decided to cover up the reality of the country by putting up huge swathes of green clothes to prevent the visiting delegates to get a first hand taste of our state-of-the-nation. In the finale, an entire slum colony near the venue was blocked away from view. Not only that stray dogs were removed from the street, slums demolished and people asked to vanish.
- With a budget allocation of 900 odd crores, India, where more than 80 Crore Indians are on free ration, eventually ended up spending 4100+ Crores on the extravaganza.
- Thousands of hoardings came up all across India where ever the meetings took place, including one in Mumbai and all had the visage of only one man, Narendra Modi, the PM of India.
- The finale was held at Bharat Mandapam (an apt name for a marriage type ceremony) where laser light show dominated the proceedings.
- World leaders arrived and then departed and a declaration was cobbled which gave important issues a miss. There was no talk of Russia-Ukraine war.
- The President of China and President of Russia did not attend the summit finale.
- On the last day, heavy showers flooded the Mandapam temporarily putting paid to all the hype around the venue.
- Guests were served in Silver and Gold Plated plates and cutlery, an attempt to show off our riches, forgetting that 80 Crore Indians out of 140 Crore are surviving on free ration.
- A massive media center was deprived of any interaction with the visiting leaders as the host, India, decided that no press conferences were required or allowed.
- The media personnel, including those who are known as Godi Media, were all asked to leave the main hall once the summit had gotten on way.
While India might not have achieved anything out of this, the good news is that Modi spent 4100 Crores on self promotion just ahead of the 2024 elections. Some TV channels like the Singapore based CNBC correspondent spoke of this.
People of Delhi remained indoors for three days in support of this jamboree.
Now that the curtain has come down over the event, Indian Railways has lined up seven inaugurations of Vande Bharat trains for our ever in election-mode PM.
Meanwhile Brazil is getting ready to host the next G-20. As this G-20 made India into a VishwaGuru (Guru of the World), next G-20 will make Brazil the VishwaGuru!
