'Kazan beckons but sadly Manipur still awaits': Congress takes dig at PM ahead of BRICS summit

Prime Minister Modi to attend BRICS summit in Kazan, Congress urges visit to violence-hit Manipur.

Ahead of the BRICS Summit in Russia, the Congress took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (October 21, 2024) and said Kazan certainly beckons but sadly Manipur still awaits.

Prime Minister Modi will attend the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan this week. He will pay a two-day visit to Kazan beginning Tuesday (October 22, 2024) to attend the BRICS summit following an invitation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Congress has repeatedly urged PM Modi to visit violence-hit Manipur, stressing that it would help restore peace and normalcy there.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Tomorrow the BRICS plus Summit begins in Kazan, Russia. Like most things the non-biological PM claims credit for, there is a solid pre-2014 history to such a Summit.”

“It was in November 2001 that the British economist Jim O’Neill first coined the term BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India & China – to draw attention to a quartet that could become major economic powers of the world by 2050,” he pointed out.

“In September 2006, foreign ministers of these four countries met in New York to explore how they could give political weight to O’Neill’s economic concept,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“In June 2009, the presidents of China, Brazil, Russia and the Prime Minister of India met in Russia for the first ever BRIC Summit,” he said, adding that South Africa was included in the group two years later when BRIC became BRICS.