At the 9th G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) organised in Delhi, Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi threw light on myriad of issues confronting the world. Giving a perspective to the present geo-political scenario, he said International Convention on Combating Terrorism is waiting for a consensus in the United Nations even today.
Hosted by Indian Parliament in cooperation with Inter-Parliamentary Union on 13-14 October 2023 at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi, the summit was organised with a broader framework and theme- ‘Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future’.
PM Modi welcomed the dignitaries to the G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit on behalf of 140 crore citizens of India.
“The Summit is a ‘Maha Kumbh’ of all Parliamentary practices from across the globe”, the Prime Minister remarked. Underlining that all the delegates present today hold the experience of the Parliamentary framework from different countries.
He highlighted that G20 kept the festive fervor going throughout the year as G20 festivities pervaded many cities where G20-related events were organized during India’s presidency. These festivities were augmented by events like the moon landing of Chandrayaan, a successful G20 summit and the P20 summit.
PM Modi emphasized that the P20 Summit is taking place on the land which is not only known as the mother of democracy but is also the largest democracy in the world. As representatives of different Parliaments from around the world, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of debates and deliberations as he mentioned accurate examples of such debates from history.
He informed that issues related to the village level were resolved by indulging in debates which became a source of great amazement for the Greek ambassador Megasthenes who wrote about it in great detail.
Speaking about the Anubhav Mantappa tradition which has been going on since the 12th century in India, and years before the Magna Carta came into existence, the Prime Minister informed that discussions were encouraged where people from every caste, creed and religion were free to express their thoughts.
He informed that 17 General elections and more than 300 state assembly elections have taken place in India since Independence. People’s participation is consistently increasing in this largest electoral exercise.
He said that 2019 General election where his party was elected to power was the biggest electoral exercise of human history as 600 million voters participated in that. At that time, he said, there were 910 million registered voters, more than the population of entire Europe.
He went on to say that the delegates about the recent decision of reserving 33 percent seats in the Parliament and the state assemblies for women. He also stated that out of more than 3 million elected representatives in the local self-government institutions, almost 50 percent are women.
Underlining the importance of wider participation in global decision-making, PM Modi said that it was behind the proposal to include the African Union in G-20 which was accepted by all the members. The Prime Minister expressed happiness over the Pan Africa participation in the forum of P20.
PM Modi took the opportunity to highlight the cross-border terrorism faced by India for decades killing thousands of innocent people. He recalled the terrorist attack on the Parliament of India about 20 years ago when it was in session and the terrorists were prepared to take the MPs hostage and eliminate them.
Speaking on terrorism, he urged the Parliaments and representatives around the world to come up with ways of working together in this fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister expressed confidence that the efforts to improve this world through debate and deliberations will definitely be successful.