'Practise what you preach': Chidambaram taunts PM Modi's G7 speech

New De;hi, June 14: The government should practise in India what it preaches to the world, Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Monday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on democracy and freedom of thought at a G7 meet.

Prime Minister Modi on Sunday said India is a natural ally for the G7 and its partners in defending democracy, freedom of thought and liberty from a host of threats stemming from authoritarianism, terrorism, violent extremism and economic coercion.

"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," Chidambaram tweeted in response.

He added that it was "sad" the prime minister 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)," the former Union minister said.

The prime minister made a virtual address at an outreach session of a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) richest democracies held in Cornwall in Britain.

There was widespread support at the G7 deliberations for text-based negotiations on a proposal by India and South Africa for patent waiver on Covid vaccines.

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 leaders of the world's advanced economies held a summit in Cornwall in the UK from June 11-13. It is for the first time the leaders of the grouping met in person since the coronavirus pandemic began.