Another lotus blooms

India prepares to take over the G20 presidency

India is due to take over the presidency of the Group of 20 nations — the G20 — on December 1 from the current president, Indonesia. The G20 presidency does not come with any formal power other than some influence over the agenda. Yet that itself is not inconsiderable, because it allows well-prepared governments to turn the discussion in the directions they prefer. India’s plans for the agenda are as yet awaited, with just a few weeks to go. Instead, what the government has decided to release first is the logo for the G20 meetings and summit, as well as a “theme” and a web site. These were done through a dedicated speech by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi that will be carefully parsed in foreign ministries around the world for anything it might reveal about India’s intentions.

What was revealed can be easily summarised. The Indian government takes three things very seriously, as visible in the PM’s speech. First, it recognises and wants to highlight its unique role as a bridge between the developed and developing world and between the eastern and western blocs of nations. Second, it takes the idea that it is the representative of the emerging world very seriously. And third, it does not intend to minimise the scale of the crisis faced by the world and by the very notion of multilateralism — but nevertheless hopes that this grouping at least can be insulated from some of the divisive pressures that have paralysed other forms of multilateralism.

Beyond that, the PM’s speech dwelt at length on the symbolism of the logo — which features a globe on a lotus — and on the theme, which is the familiar Sanskrit phrase “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, meaning “the world is one family”. The PM has used this phrase often in the context of India’s diplomatic outreach and of multilateralism more generally. In the G20 context, the government has chosen to interpret “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” as meaning “One Earth, One Family, One Future”. The spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs added that “the logo and the theme of #G20India together represent a uniquely Indian approach to our G20 Presidency, of living in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem”. It is not difficult to see that the choice of the logo at least reveals that the government does not intend to ignore the political possibilities of holding a highly visible series of international summits on Indian soil. The lotus has meanings in Indian tradition far beyond its recent political salience as the ruling party’s election symbol, of course. The political benefits of the G20, if any, are for the ruling party to mine if it can. But it will no doubt realise those benefits will be greater if the summit is a conspicuous success. That can happen only if an agenda is set to marry development requirements with feasibility in a divided world. It is to be hoped that as much effort is made on identifying and preparing these agenda items as it did into the logo and slogan.