Taking a veiled jibe at Pakistan, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, who was in Leh to preside over the concluding function of the Y20 pre-summit, said the success of the international event must have upset those objecting to India’s choice of the venue.
Earlier in the month, Pakistan had criticised India’s decision to hold the Y20 pre-summit and the G20 tourism working group meet in Leh and Srinagar, respectively. In response, New Delhi had dismissed Islamabad’s objection, saying it was only “natural to hold the events in the UTs that are an integral part of India”.
While Pakistan is not a G20 nation, China is, but there was no representative from Beijing at the summit. Thakur also stressed the need for a dialogue in order to resolve global conflicts.
Earlier, the minister hailed the PM, who virtually inaugurated 91 FM transmitters across the country today. As three of these are for Ladakh, Thakur said another record had been established with the world’s highest transmitters being installed at an altitude of 4,100 metres at Nyoma.
The minister also took part in ‘Yuva Samvad’, where he interacted with youth delegates. To a query by a participant from Japan on how India had managed to create a booming ecosystem for startups to thrive even though many other countries had just as many resources, Thakur said under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the process of loans had been simplified, making it easy for any aspiring entrepreneur to start a business. A cultural evening was also organised during which traditional dance forms of Ladakh, including Chabskyan, Spao, Jabro and Shondol, were presented by local artistes.
