India's G20 presidency could shape voter mood for 2024

Given the number of events taking place simultaneously across the country, hardly any state will miss out on the G20 extravaganza

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Bali this week to attend the G20 Summit, India will formally be handed the rotating annual presidency of the group for 2023. However, it has already begun to make waves in India's domestic politics. Will the presidency provide Prime Minister Modi with the platform he needs for his re-election in 2024?

The Congress party has criticised India's G20 logo. Its spokesperson Jairam Ramesh pointed out, "The BJP's election symbol is now the official logo for India's G20 presidency! While shocking, we know by now that Mr Modi and BJP won't lose any opportunity to promote themselves shamelessly." The logo of G20 has a prominence of saffron and green, the party colours of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a saffron lotus holding up the globe. The symbolism may be lost on the G20 leaders but not on the Opposition parties in India.

Predictably, the BJP has retaliated by claiming that the Congress had insulted the lotus, India's national flower, as a symbol of national culture and the seat of Goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati. Prime Minister Modi, however, tried to expand the relevance of the logo for G20 at its launch. The lotus, he said, was "a representation of hope" that blooms "no matter how adverse the circumstances." Referencing the Hindu pantheon, he said, "In Indian culture, both the Goddess of knowledge and prosperity are seated on a lotus. This is what the world needs most today: shared knowledge that helps us overcome our circumstances, and shared prosperity that reaches the last person at the last mile."

Should some feel that this does not sufficiently draw the sting from the Opposition's criticism, consider the fact that days before polling in Himachal Pradesh, the media was told that the art and culture of the state would be prominently represented in the Bali summit as gifts for the G20 leaders would be sourced from Himachal! These include Chamba "rumals" (embroidered handkerchiefs), Kangra miniature paintings, Kinnauri shawls and Kanal brass sets. It is disconcerting that the announcement was made by unnamed officials to a news agency even as the election process was on and the Model Code of Conduct was in force.

This was clearly leveraging an international event for domestic elections. One wonders why gifts from Gujarat, also going to elections, were not on the gift list for Bali, say beadwork from Saurashtra, tie-dye scarves from Kutch, painted woodwork from Bhavnagar, Zari embroidery from Surat or Patola from Patan? Is it that the situation in Himachal is precarious for the BJP, whereas it is more confident in Gujarat?

The feeling that the BJP was pulling out all the stops for the Himachal elections was already evident by his sartorial choice of Chola-Dori, the traditional male dress of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, when Prime Minister Modi went to visit Kedarnath Temple in Garhwal. Not that Uttarakhand has been entirely ignored in his stylistic repertoire. He did wear a Uttarakhandi boat cap dyed in saffron with a "Brahma Kamal", the state flower of Uttarakhand, just days before the state election. Indeed, he also wore a black version of the cap for the Republic Day Parade (January 26) on Rajpath this year– it being a mere coincidence that the Uttarakhand legislative election was due only a few weeks later (February 22).

If the politics of symbolism runs so deep in his veins, can his critics be faulted for reading much into the G20 logo? Indeed, the entire G20 cannot be disassociated from the 2024 general election, which will follow the culmination of the Summit in September 2023.

The scope of the G20 events planned – both the mandatory and the side events – will lend themselves to projecting the leadership of Prime Minister Modi nationwide. Over 200 events at 56 venues across the country are being planned around India's G20 presidency. They will take place both in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities over a period of 11 months, culminating in the Summit meeting of G20 leaders taking place in Delhi in September 2023.

It is estimated that 43 international organisations (G20 itself is a group of 19 countries and the European Union) and their senior delegations will participate in events that comprise 25 ministerial meetings, 4 Sherpa (preparatory) meetings, 86 working group meetings, 46 engagement group meetings and around 56 side-events, seminars and conferences. Officials have already mentioned that there would be a special focus on the seven north-eastern states (where the BJP's solo position is quite precarious) and exotic places such as Rann of Kutch, Lakshadweep, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Goa. Kashmir, too has been mentioned as a possible venue though the positions held by the participating countries on the situation there could make that a no go.

The point is that given the number of events occurring simultaneously across the country, hardly any state will miss out on the G20 extravaganza. These events will present an opportunity for Prime Minister Modi to participate in mega-spectacles that will dazzle the Indian public. A master of political oratory, he treads the thin line of talking about India's achievements in language that suggests that he is talking about his accomplishments.

When the outgoing G20 presidency went to Indonesia, political observers noted that President Joko Widodo, also in his second term (like Prime Minister Modi), worked with political consensus. His efforts to lower religious tension in his country and stem the rise of religious fundamentalism were lauded. Jokowi, as he is popularly called, they said, was a modest man with a good deal to be immodest about.

The Indian prime minister is not a consensual politician. His critics would say that he is an immodest political leader with much to be modest about. However, Indian voters like their leaders to be larger than life, with God-like attributes and demonstrable strongman abilities. Prime Minister Modi fits the bill, and India's G20 presidency would enhance that image to enable him to romp home safely in 2024.