New Delhi, April 1 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will review the situation arising from the West Asia conflict and the availability of essential needs, including food, energy, and fuel security for common people, with a group of senior cabinet ministers on Wednesday evening.
The meeting is expected to take place after the prime minister returns from Assam, where he has been campaigning for the assembly elections, this evening, official sources said.
Senior ministers expected to attend the meeting include Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, J P Nadda, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Manohar Lal Khattar, Pralhad Joshi, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, and Hardeep Singh Puri. NSA Ajit Doval, the prime minister's two principal secretaries, P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, and Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan are also expected to attend.
In his monthly radio broadcast, Mann Ki Baat, last Sunday, the prime minister described the situation emerging from the ongoing "fierce war" in West Asia as "challenging" and urged all citizens to come together to overcome the difficulties.
Modi also cautioned those who were politicizing the current crisis and asked them to refrain from doing so, saying that there was no place for self-serving politics in the prevailing situation.
He said those spreading rumours were causing major harm to the country.
"Currently, a fierce war has been going on in our neighbourhood for a month. These are certainly challenging times. Today, through 'Mann Ki Baat', I would once again urge all my countrymen that we must unite to overcome this challenge," he said.
On March 22, the prime minister held a similar meeting with the same group of ministers and officials, reviewing the situation arising from the conflict in West Asia, and a detailed assessment was made on the availability of essential needs of the common people, including food, energy, and fuel security.
At that meeting, Prime Minister Modi had said the conflict was an evolving situation and that the entire world was affected in some form.
In such a situation, he said, all efforts must be made to safeguard the citizens from the impact of this conflict.
Modi instructed that all arms of the government should work together to ensure the least inconvenience to the citizens.
On March 12, PM Modi had said that the war in West Asia has triggered a worldwide energy crisis, posing a critical test of national character that requires dealing with circumstances through peace, patience, and increased public awareness.
The prime minister emphasised that his government was working relentlessly to address disruptions that have emerged in international supply chains.
"Continuous efforts are also underway to determine how we can overcome the disruptions that have occurred in the supply chain," Modi had said.
Since the West Asia conflict started on February 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran, the prime minister has spoken to many global leaders, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, France, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Israel, and Iran.
He has also spoken to US President Donald Trump. After a telephonic conversation between the two on March 24, Modi said he "had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia".