US envoy Sergio Gor says India asked for no press questions at Modi-Trump G7 meeting; New Delhi calls it standard practice
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The Facts
- US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said India's Ministry of External Affairs asked that reporters not ask questions after the Modi-Trump meeting.
- Gor made the remarks on Saturday at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi.
- Modi and Trump met on June 17 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.
- Gor said India wanted journalists present to record the leaders' opening remarks but not a full press conference.
- Gor said Trump agreed to the request, then looked at the cameras after the opening remarks and asked, "Any questions?"
- The interaction became a media session lasting about 45 minutes, with Modi seated beside Trump.
- Indian government sources said on Monday that discussions on arrangements for leaders' public appearances are "normal practice" ahead of any VVIP visit.
- Government sources said the Indian side had communicated its standard practice for such visits to the US side.
- India's response did not deny that a request was made, instead describing the media arrangement as routine protocol.
Context
What did Gor say about US visa applicants?
Gor said people who publicly post slogans such as "Death to America" should not expect to apply for a US visa "without facing scrutiny," adding that India also asks extensive questions of visa applicants and denies many of them, which he called India's right Hindustan Times. He made the comments while discussing US visa policies and the right of countries to decide who is granted entry Hindustan Times.
How did the Indian government respond, and was the response on the record?
The response was attributed to unnamed government sources, who told outlets including ANI and CNN-News18 that discussions about leaders' public appearances are normal practice ahead of any VVIP visit MoneyControl,Times of India,Asian News Internat…. At the time Gor's remarks were first reported, the central government and the Ministry of External Affairs had not officially reacted Hindustan Times.
What else did Gor discuss at the forum?
Gor commented on Indian television news, saying he watches the shows in the evening and that "the later it gets, the crazier the shows become," describing debates that grow from about eight participants at 6 pm to 12 talking at once by 10 pm cnbctv18.com,Telegraph. He also said some Indian reporting was "nowhere close to the mark" cnbctv18.com, and said India could play a role in future US space missions Hindustan Times.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both read the no-questions arrangement as indefensible and treat Trump's decision to take questions anyway, stretching the session to roughly 45 minutes, as the correct outcome.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- Both want the questions asked; one because citizens lose their only hold on closed-door leaders, the other because no foreign ministry should set an American president's terms.
- Why they won’t converge
- This is a values divide over who owns the terms of press access — a public entitlement owed to citizens, or a logistical detail governments may negotiate — and agreeing on what was requested settles neither claim.
How left and right read it
When leaders meet behind closed doors, the only hold a citizen has on them is the question a reporter gets to ask, so telling journalists to record the opening remarks and nothing more takes directly from what the public is allowed to know. Calling that arrangement normal practice restates the habit instead of answering the objection. The burden sits with officials: let the questions be asked, and answered.
No foreign ministry's advance staff should be setting the terms on which an American president faces reporters. Yet the request relayed by the ambassador was exactly that — cameras welcome for the opening remarks, questions unwelcome — and Trump, having agreed, still turned to the cameras and asked for them, stretching the session to roughly 45 minutes. That instinct is the right default. Open questions travel with the office.
“The ambassador also offered a wry take on the unusual behind-the-scenes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with US President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit, saying that India's Ministry of External Affairs had asked for media access without questions.” — The Telegraph
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Independent coverage (41)
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