Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home on Tuesday after week-long trip abroad, boasting of having attended ”a wide spread of programmes, each of which generated many positive outcomes that will benefit India,” even as critics pilloried him for yet another wasteful foreign sortie amid immense domestic problems.

”My USA visit demonstrates the extraordinary depth and diversity of our relationship. A lot of ground has been covered in these few days. I shared my thoughts on key global issues at the @UN & also met many world leaders to strengthen India’s ties with the global community,” the Prime Minister tweeted as he boarded Air India One after meeting the heads of the United States, France, and United Kingdom on his final day in New York.

A delegation-level meeting with President Barack Obama – their fifth in a year – topped off a packed schedule for the Prime Minister on a trip during which he showed great self-assurance and engagement with the NRI community, but which was also marked by minor protests from small dissenting groups.  Details