Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram said that PM Modi was the only guest not physically present at the G7 Outreach meeting, highlighting that India is the “most infected and least vaccinated country” against Covid-19.

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at G7 Outreach “inspiring as well as ironic”, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said the Modi government should “practise in India what it preaches to the world”.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said, “PM Modi’s speech at the G7 Outreach meeting is inspiring as well as ironic. The Modi government should practise in India what it preaches to the world.”

The former Union finance minister also highlighted that PM Modi was the only guest not physically present at the G7 Outreach meeting. “It is sad that PM Modi was the only guest not physically present at the Outreach meeting. Ask yourself why? Because India is an outlier as far as the fight against Covid 19 is concerned. We are the most infected and least vaccinated country (as a proportion of the population),” he said.

In his second virtual address at the G7 summit on Sunday, PM Modi said India is a natural ally for the G7 countries in defending the shared values from a host of threats stemming from authoritarianism, terrorism and violent extremism, disinformation and economic coercion.

During a session on ‘Building Back Together: Open Societies and Economies’, PM Modi stressed the need to ensure that cyberspace remains an avenue for advancing democratic values and not of subverting them.

In another session called ‘Building Back Greener: Climate and Nature’, PM Modi said that developing countries need better access to climate finance and emphasised that the planet’s atmosphere, biodiversity and oceans cannot be protected by countries acting in isolation.

On Saturday, PM Modi called for a ‘One Earth, One Health’ approach and called for global unity, leadership and solidarity, while emphasising the special responsibility of democratic and transparent societies to prevent future pandemics.

The PM highlighted India’s ‘whole of society’ approach to fight the pandemic, and also committed support to improve global health governance.

‘What expertise’: Owaisi questions PM’s speech at G7

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi questioned PM Modi’s speech at G7 Outreach, saying what “expertise” he promised to share with the world in the fight against Covid-19.

In a tweet, Owaisi said, “Modi told developing countries that he’s willing to share his expertise on fighting Covid. What expertise?”

The Group of Seven (G7) comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. As chair of G7, the UK invited India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa to the summit as guest countries.

The summit, which was held in Cornwall in the UK from June 11-13, was the first time the leaders of the grouping met in person since the coronavirus pandemic began.