The Vice-President of India will represent India at the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 25 and 26, marking the second time in a row that PM Modi will give the summit a miss. Context:
- Modi’s absence indicates a decisive move away from past practice at the 60-year-old organization that India was a founding member of.
- In 2016 as well, India was represented by the Vice-President at the NAM summit in Venezuela.
What this means:
- Long-held assumptions and alignments rooted in the legacies of colonialism and the ideology of the Cold War are making way for new configurations and partnerships.
- However, India remains committed to the principles and objectives of the Non-Aligned Movement, including our long-standing solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause.
History:
- The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.
- After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
- Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
- NAM was initiated by India, Indonesia, the former Yugoslavia, Egypt, and other countries.
- Since it was inaugurated in 1961, the Indian Prime Minister has always attended the NAM summit, except in 1979, when Chaudhury Charan Singh was the caretaker PM and hence missed it, and in 2016.
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