PM in India for 46 days and counting

Modi set to break his record of spending most days in the country without travelling abroad; in 2014, he had spent 30 days outside India

Frequent foreign visits and increased engagement with the Indian diaspora have defined Prime Minister  (PM) Narendra Modi’s foreign policy initiatives in the first 20 months of his tenure. But, Modi is unlikely to be as keen on travelling overseas in 2016.

Given his busy domestic schedule, the PM is yet to travel outside India in 2016. His last foreign visit was to Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan (December 23-25, 2015). Since then, he has spent an uninterrupted 46 days in India. This is his second longest unbroken stay in the country since he took over as PM on May 26, 2014.

The longest stretch, in his 20-month tenure, between his one foreign visit to the next was from November 26, 2014 to March 9, 2015, which touched 72 days. He is likely to breach that record comfortably, given that no foreign visits are planned until March-end. The PM will travel to the US to attend the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31.

Modi’s focus in 2016 is to be on domestic politics. In February, he will address four rallies across India and then get busy with the Budget session of Parliament. Campaigning for Assembly polls is also likely to take up his time. As many as eight states will go to polls by March 2017, including key states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Modi, according to sources, has conveyed to both the external affairs ministry as well as the overseas friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party that he will cut down on his visits abroad this year.

In 2014, Modi had visited nine countries in seven months, which works out to 1.2 countries a month. His travel, in terms of countries visited, was nearly twice in the 12 months of 2015, with Modi visiting 28 countries, or 2.3 countries a month. However, the difference isn’t stark in terms of number of days that the PM spent outside India. In 2014, the PM spent 30 days outside India — 14 per cent of the 219 days that he spent in the prime ministerial chair after having been sworn in on May 26, 2014. He did not travel at all in the last month of 2014 as well as the first two months of 2015. But, he notched up significant flying miles in the rest of the year. The PM spent 54 days outside India in 2015, or 15 per cent of 365 days.

However, 2016 doesn’t hold much promise in terms of overseas prime ministerial visits. Modi is likely to visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit and to Hangzhou in China for the G20 Summit. He is scheduled to attend the India-European Union Summit in Brussels, the Nuclear Security Summit in the US and possibly the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Uzbekistan.

Apart from this, the PM will attend the East Asia Summit in Laos. It is unclear if he will travel all the way to Caracas in Venezuela to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit. A visit to Saudi Arabia has been in the works. The PM is likely to skip the UN General Assembly session in September, given it is an election year in the US.

Year 2016 will be more about India playing the host, including to the Israeli and Palestinian leadership. It has already hosted the French President and will also host leaders of Russia, South Africa, China and Brazil for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit to be held in New Delhi.