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Jaishankar says India should no longer 'please world', others don't ‘define us’
"The idea that others define us, that, you know, somewhere we need to get approval from other quarters, I think, that's an era we need to put behind," foreign minister S Jaishankar said.
Foreign affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said India at 75 years of its independence is at a juncture where it should put behind the idea that it needs to get approval from other quarters; that others 'define' India. "We have to be confident about who we are. I think it's better to engage with the world on the basis of who we are rather than try and please the world by being a pale imitation of what they are. The idea that others define us, that you know somewhere we need to get approval from other quarters, I think, that's an era we need to put behind," the minister said as he spoke at the ministry of external affairs and Observer Research Foundation's Raisina Dialogue 2022. The comment comes amid India's much-debated stand on Russia which is continuing its attack on Ukraine. While India condemned the violence and urged for a ceasefire, it continued its historical trade relations with Russia.
In the coming 25 years, the foreign minister said he hopes for India to become more international in terms of commitment, role and responsibilities. "My morning today was made by meeting a fellow foreign minister who told me Gujarat is ahead of globalisation. Actually, he said Gujarat does not need globalisation... I think in a way I would hope in the next 25 years India too would be at the forefront of the right kind of globalisation, more decentralised, more fair, one which works for everybody, one which is not weaponised," the foreign minister said.
Talking about what India should not do, Jaishankar said, "We should not be looking at the world with a sense of entitlement. We need to earn our place in the world which to a certain extent comes to the issue of how the world benefits from the growth of India. We need to demonstrate that."
On the Russia-Ukraine situation, Jaishankar said, "The best way forward is to focus on stopping the fighting, getting the talking and finding ways to moving forward. We think our choices are best placed to advance that."
On what India could have done better in the last 75 years, the foreign minister highlighted three things: First, attention to social indicators which he said was not paid; two, concentrate on manufacturing and three, importance to hard security. "This is not a polemical criticism of the past," the foreign minister added.
"If today there is a sense in the world that democracy is, in some form, the future, then a large part of it is due to India and the choices India made and stuck with in very different situations. There was a time when, in this part of the world, we were the only democracy," Jaishankar said.
