India Wants BRICS To Give Global South A Voice, Not Target The West
CANBERRA-India wants BRICS to advocate the interests of the Global South without turning the grouping into an anti-Western bloc.
China’s President Xi Jinping is confirmed to arrive in New Delhi this weekend for the first time in seven years, reportedly accompanied by a delegation of around 400 officials but just for a day. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending the BRICS summit hosted by India, while several bilateral meetings, including with Iran, are going on the sidelines, according to a report in Australia-based ‘The Interpreter’.
Images of Xi, Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi together in New Delhi are likely to fuel commentary that India is drifting away from the West amid US President Donald Trump’s tariff pressure and growing uncertainty over US policy, the report said.
However, quoting India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, it noted that India is “non-Western, not anti-Western”.
The report said India views itself as a reformist power rather than a revisionist one, seeking a greater role in global governance, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and more influence over financial and technological rulemaking. It seeks to change parts of the international order while preserving a system that has been central to its own rise.
India’s approach is reflected in its turn as BRICS chair, the report said. This year’s discussions on food security, emerging technologies and trade have focused on strengthening existing institutions rather than replacing them. At a time when US tariff policies have heightened economic volatility, BRICS trade ministers have called for the multilateral trading order to be preserved and revitalized.
BRICS, however, remains a difficult balancing act for India. The grouping’s expansion, resisted by both India and Brazil, has made consensus harder. The report noted a broader divide within the bloc: India and Brazil largely view BRICS as an economic platform, while China and Russia see it more as a geopolitical one.
As chair, India has sought to maintain a distinction between the two tracks while accommodating differences within the grouping.
The tension was evident in May, when BRICS foreign ministers failed to reach agreement on a joint declaration. Rather than forcing a common position, India acknowledged the differences through a chair’s statement and ensured the grouping moved forward, the report said.
Highlighting India’s role in maintaining the balance within BRICS, the report said, “A BRICS that remains a coalition seeking greater voice for non-Western states may be an irritant but something the West could live with. A BRICS organized around Chinese preferences would be something else entirely. India remains the most important country capable of preventing that outcome.” (IANS)
