Narendra Modi spent Rs 6,590 crore on advertisement and foreign trips

By Iain MarlownnNEW DELHI:Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi?s foreign trips and his government?s advertising blitz over the past four-and-a-half years have cost Indian taxpayers about Rs 6,590 crore ($920 million).nnThe globe-trotting prime minister?s 84 foreign trips around the world cost roughly $280 million (about Rs 2,000 crore), while the government spent $640 million (about Rs 4,500 crore) on promoting Modi?s flagship projects and achievements, according to new government data.nnThe money spent on each foreign trip, combined with the cost of maintenance on Air India One and setting up a secure hotline, was provided in a response to a lawmaker?s question in parliament by V.K. Singh, India?s junior foreign minister. The money on advertisements?some of which bear Modi?s image?was also made in parliament by Rajyavardhan Rathore, the junior minister for information and broadcasting.nnGovernment spokesman Sitanshu Kar did not respond to three calls to his mobile phone on Friday, while a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, did not respond to a call and text for comment.nnModi?s foreign tripsnnSince taking office, Modi has maintained a punishing pace of world travel, meeting some global leaders such as US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe multiple times in a bid to boost India?s influence in global affairs and secure its strategic interests.nnSome of his trips, including an informal summit with President Xi Jinping in the Chinese city of Wuhan, are credited as diplomatic successes. His meeting with China?s leader after a tense stand-off in the Himalayas was seen as ushering in a detente between the world?s two most-populous countries.nnOthers generated some controversy.nnHis trip to Japan in 2016?which came immediately after demonetisation, sending millions into bank queues to exchange worthless cash?led to accusations by the opposition that he was travelling the world while ordinary Indians were struggling.nnSome were also a bit odd. While on a trip to Africa, Modi?a vegetarian and devout Hindu nationalist who reveres and worships bovines?gave Rwandan villagers 200 dairy cows on a beef-eating continent where there is a possibility of them getting slaughtered.nnHe also signed a memorandum of understanding to open a yoga college in China?s Yunnan province, and pledged to cooperate with Turkmenistan on both yoga and traditional Indian medicine, according to government statements.nnThese sorts of agreements?aspirational, though sometimes vaguely-worded?were signed with countries as varied as China and Palestine. In Oman, a memorandum of understanding was signed pledging ?cooperation in the field of health?.nnIn Portugal, Modi?s diplomats promised to cooperate ?in the exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes?, an agreement India also struck with Vietnam and Oman.nnSource: Bloomberg