Modi to invite SAARC heads at swearing-in

FE Team | Published: May 22, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

NEW DELHI, May 21 (Agencies): Indian prime minister-elect Narendra Modi wants to invite all heads of government of SAARC countries for his swearing-in ceremony on May 26.
Modi conveyed this wish of his to President Pranab Mukherjee when he met him Tuesday.
The President seemingly welcomed it as a 'good idea' and has passed this on to the ministry of external affairs which is now examining the proposal, sources in Rastrapati Bhavan said here.
Nirmala Sitharaman, spokeswoman for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told the AFP Wednesday all heads of government from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) were being sent "invitations to be present at Mr Modi's swearing in".
The invitation, yet to officially dispatched to members of the eight-nation grouping, signals Modi's intention to tackle India's most troubled bilateral relationship with Pakistan at a time when Sharif is also keen on talks, analysts say. "It's a very important gesture," said Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think-tank.
"It definitely shows Modi's intentions to focus on immediate neighbours and it's a realistic signal: realism in the sense that unless you have good relations with neighbours you can hardly focus beyond," he said.
There is no recent precedent for inviting foreign heads of governments when an Indian prime minister has been sworn in, but Modi has a penchant for doing the most unusual.
SAARC nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Modi apparently wants to send out through this invitation a "very strong signal of a neighbour-friendly new government ", BJP sources say.
He has been engaged in some tough talk against both Pakistan and Bangladesh on issues of terrorism and illegal migration, but has later said that "election campaign and governance" are two different propositions.
The BJP has indicated that Modi will completely re-craft Indian foreign policy into a meaningful exercise after having denounced the Congress for a 'weak foreign policy'.
BJP leaders say that Modi would make clear his mind on his approach to SAARC heads of governments about the 'future direction of Indian policy' in the region.
"The message will be simple: we want to grow together. Modi will walk an extra mile for friends and do all to assuage their concerns but he will brook no nonsense and if anyone dares a Kargil, God bless the trouble-maker," said a senior leader close to Modi, but he was unwilling to be named.
A senior official from India's foreign ministry told AFP it was examining a proposal to welcome foreign heads of governments next Monday, but said invitations had not yet been dispatched.
However, a BJP source said Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was writing to the SAARC leaders and they would get the invitations soon.
Sharif, who is himself a centre-right leader, has hailed Modi's "impressive victory" and many diplomats hope the two men can thaw ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Sharif has cited his working relationship with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India's last prime minister under the BJP, as a reason for optimism, according to diplomatic sources.