New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on March 18 that India has navigated and adapted to a world that has “not always been kind” and “not always been accommodating,” but the country has drawn on its traditions to develop certain tactical skills.
Addressing a session titled ‘Thrones and Thorns: Defending the Integrity of Nations’ at Raisina Dialogue 2025 today, Jaishankar stressed there are three dimensions important to understanding India, which include the Global South, and democracy.
When asked about India’s authentic position during the discussion, Jaishankar said, “I would say maybe there are three, four dimensions which are important to understand India. First of all, you know, the Global South, the decolonization, because it is impossible to appreciate India’s global positions without being cognizant of the colonial history, because when you have lost your independence and struggled to recover it, there is a whole mindset which comes with it. So, I would say very definitely Global South is one.”
“Two, democratic. Our choice in the 1940s to become a modern democratic polity. I argue we draw on our own traditions in that regard. To be a democratic polity, to be a market economy, to be a society, which respects faiths, I think this is also a very important part of our DNA. And sometimes even we in India take it a bit for granted, but many of our positions take this into account,” he added.
Stressing that the world has not always been kind to India, Jaishankar said, “Third, I would argue that in a way we have navigated, adapted to a world which has not always been kind to us, which has not always been accommodating at us, but we have in that sense developed a certain skill of which you make some reference. But really, I would call it both a tactical skill, a long view that we have, not a five-year, ten-year necessarily horizon and understanding of ourselves. And for today, as the most populous country in the world, as the fifth largest economy of the world, perhaps third by the end of this decade, in various other domains you can see, I mean, we are still doing more, we are contributing more.”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also spoke about multipolar order. He said, “I think the idea of a multipolar world and where India itself is concerned to think of how to become a leading power at some point of time. I think these are the Global South character, the democratic character, the adapting long view aspect and a multipolar world towards which we are working.”
“I think if you keep these in mind, a lot of what we do in different situations would make sense. Now, you put your question in a certain way, I understand why you want to address it a certain reply from me, but then, you know, I want you to think back because you began by saying 23, 24, 25, how has it changed? I would argue many of the positions we took in 23 and 24 on this very platform, which at that time were not necessarily of light, today have stood the test of time,” he added.
Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanar, former Sweden Prime Minister Carl Bildt, Liechtenstein’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport, Dominique Hasler, Fiker Institute Founder Dubai Abulhoul participated alongside Jaishankar in this session.
Currently, Raisina Dialogue 2025 is underway in India from March 17-19 in New Delhi. The Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community.
Every year, leaders in politics, business, media, and civil society converge in New Delhi to discuss the state of the world and explore opportunities for cooperation on a wide range of contemporary matters. (With inputs from ANI)
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