Malcolm Turnbull and Narendra Modi snap selfies on the New Delhi metro
Malcolm Turnbull has engaged in another round of selfie diplomacy – this time with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
Malcolm Turnbull has engaged in another round of selfie diplomacy – this time with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
In a photo opportunity that was tailor-made for social media, the two prime ministers surprised Indian commuters on Monday afternoon by taking the New Delhi metro to see one of the city’s temples.
The short train ride allowed the two leaders to venture out of their formal talks on energy, education and defence in order to have a brief tour of the Akshardham temple.
Turnbull has made a custom of taking selfies with other leaders, including one with Barack Obama in Peru last November to mark their final meeting before the former US president left that post.
There have been selfies with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and other leaders at G20 summits and similar global gatherings, as well as one with Indonesian president Joko Widodo when the two leaders toured a Jakarta market in November 2015.
The New Delhi metro ride drew far more attention in India than the official meeting between Turnbull and Modi a few hours earlier, where the two leaders acknowledged the slow progress they were making on a free-trade agreement but formalised smaller deals on science, nanotechnology, education and defence.
Like other headline-grabbing moments, the metro trip looked impromptu but required tight security and a phalanx of officers to keep the crowds at bay. Many of the passengers around the two prime ministers were the television crews and news photographers there to record the
event.
Indian media reported the crowds at Mandi House metro station on the Blue Line chanted “Modi, Modi, Modi” when their leader appeared on the platform.
Later, Modi introduced Turnbull to his 28.8 million followers on social media by tweeting a photo of Turnbull taking a selfie with the Indian leader.
On board the Delhi Metro with PM @TurnbullMalcolm. We are heading to the Akshardham Temple. pic.twitter.com/AiP4BAqhLY
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 10, 2017
Labor quickly saw an opportunity to cut Turnbull down to size. “Hi PM Narendra Modi,” tweeted Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt. “Can you have a word with Malcolm Turnbull about the importance of building train lines, as well as taking selfies on them?”
Hi PM @narendramodi. Can you have a word with @TurnbullMalcolm about importance of building train lines, as well as taking selfies on them? https://t.co/ahfXmwIoEe
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) April 10, 2017
And who is to say Modi didn’t do exactly that? One of the biggest questions for Turnbull during his visit to India is whether his government will offer a $900 million concessional loan to Indian
company Adani to build a rail line from its central Queensland coal mine to its Abbott Point coal loader on the coast.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, a friend of Modi, was due to meet Turnbull within hours of the shared journey on the metro. The importance of building train lines was definitely on the agenda -- along with big questions about a return on investment. This time, however, no television crews or photographers were invited to look on.
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