MEA slams Punjab CM for mocking PM’s travels to Global South countries

The Government of India on Thursday (July 10, 2025) disassociated itself from the comments made by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, where he mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s just-concluded five-nation tour of countries with “population of 10,000” and for the awards he received there. In a sternly worded statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) objected to the comments made by a “high state authority about India’s relations with friendly countries from the Global South”.

“These remarks are irresponsible and regrettable and do not behove the state authority,” the MEA said. “The Government of India disassociates itself from such unwarranted comments that undermine India’s ties with friendly countries.” 

Sources clarified that the MEA statement referred to comments made during Mr. Mann’s press conference on Thursday (July 10, 2025) in Chandigarh about Mr. Modi’s foreign travels and in particular his nine-day tour to Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil and Namibia.

Mr. Mann, a former comedian and actor, said he was not sure which countries the Prime Minister had been visiting, referring to them with fictitious names like “Magnesia, Galvesia, Tarvesia”.

“[Mr. Modi] does not want to stay in a country with a population of 140 crores [India],” Mr. Mann said. “The countries he is visiting have a population of just 10,000, and he gets their biggest awards, but in India 10,000 people gather just to see a JCB [digger and bulldozer vehicle] at work,” he added, laughing. The reference to the populations was made in jest, but is erroneous — the populations of countries Mr. Modi visited ranged from 13.7 lakh in Trinidad and Tobago and 21.11 crore in Brazil.

According to the MEA, Mr. Modi has been given more than 25 state and civilian awards by various countries that he has visited since 2014, when he was first elected. During his latest visit abroad (July 2-10), he was honoured with the Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana, the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil’s Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross, and Namibia’s Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis. In Argentina, the Capital city’s government also conferred the Key to Buenos Aires to Mr. Modi, although that is not a national honour. 

During the tour, Mr. Modi held a series of bilateral engagements and also attended the BRICS summit of emerging economies, where he stressed India’s commitment to highlighting issues of the Global South.