‘Practice for the last decade’: MEA defends Mumbai venue for Jaishankar-Rubio talks after Congress jibe

The ministry of external affairs on Friday defended the choice of Mumbai for US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar next week after Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi claimed that government officials were “confused” about the visit and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain the matter.

“It has been the practice for the last decade or so to host foreign dignitaries outside Delhi. To give you some examples, the prime minister hosted the Spanish prime minister in Vadodara, Chancellor Merz of Germany in Ahmedabad, and the prime minister of Mauritius in Varanasi,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote on X.

Jaiswal also cited the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, a visit by Botswana’s foreign minister to Kevadia in Gujarat, and the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar as examples of engagements with foreign dignitaries held outside the national capital.

The Congress criticism followed remarks by US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, who said Rubio would meet Indian government officials in Mumbai and that Jaishankar was expected to attend.

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi wrote, “Mr Rubio has summoned his employee to Mumbai. Modi ji, your officials in the External Affairs Ministry are confused about what's going on. You might want to explain. Unless, of course, you want me to.”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned why US Ambassador Sergio Gor was announcing details of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s engagements in India.

“Since when has the announcement of India’s external affairs minister’s meetings within India been outsourced to somebody other than the official spokesperson of the MEA?” Ramesh asked in a post on X. He said it was “quite extraordinary” that Gor had announced Jaishankar’s expected presence at the meeting.

​The MEA on Friday announced that Jaishankar and Marco Rubio will hold talks on October 20 to discuss ways to enhance the bilateral partnership during his visit to India.