New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised PM Narendra Modi for his leadership, saying that despite being in office for over a decade, PM Modi has “managed to resist the hubris of power”.

Abbott made the remarks while discussing the significance of the annual Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi.

Highlighting the growing global importance of the strategic forum, noting its origins and the role played by India’s foreign policy leadership, Abbott said: “There’s been a Raisina Dialogue in Delhi every March since 2016. It’s the brainchild of Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Narendra Modi’s long-serving foreign minister. Like other global gatherings, it brings together political leaders, senior military commanders, prominent business people, leading journalists, and think tank chiefs to discuss key issues; but it’s better than Davos because it’s not so dominated by politically correct plutocrats; and better than the longer-running Chinese Boao Forum, because it not essentially an exercise in homage to the host government.”

Abbott praised PM Modi’s leadership style and willingness to listen to global voices despite being one of the most influential leaders in the world today.

Referring to the prime minister’s presence at the dialogue’s opening sessions each year, Abbott said, “At every dialogue so far, Prime Minister Modi has set the example, attending the opening session, to hear the principal guest — last year the Prime Minister of New Zealand; this year the President of Finland – but not speaking himself.”

Abbott said that PM Modi is the third most powerful world leader today. “After the US and Chinese presidents, he’s probably the most immediately powerful person in the world, yet he’s not too proud to listen as well as to lead. Despite over a decade in office, perhaps because of his youth as a kind of Hindu monk, Modi has thus far managed to resist the hubris of power.”

The former Australian leader also dismissed criticism from some international observers that India has become less democratic under the Bharatiya Janata Party government.

He strongly rejected claims that India has become authoritarian under the current government.

“And as for this notion that India, under the BJP, has somehow become an authoritarian state — that’s total BS. No country with free and fair elections, a riotously free media, and a robustly independent judiciary is in serious danger of dictatorship. And no dictatorship would host a global conference where nothing is off-limits, and no one is shouted down. This year’s dialogue, after all, heard from both the Israeli foreign minister (virtually) and the Iranian deputy foreign minister.”

The Raisina Dialogue, held annually in New Delhi, has emerged as one of the world’s premier geopolitical and strategic forums, bringing together leaders, policymakers, and experts to debate global challenges and security issues. Abbott’s remarks underline the event’s rising global stature and India’s growing role in shaping international discourse.

–IANS

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