NEW DELHI: India will engage with the world on its own terms and does not require anyone’s approval to do so, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the Raisina Dialogue on Wednesday. The minister’s frank remarks came a few days after he made India’s stance clear to several world leaders, including in the US, UK and the EU in the context of the Ukraine war.
“It is better to engage with the world on the basis of who we are than to please the world as a pale imitation of who they are. The idea of others defining us and we needing approval is something that we need to put behind us,” Jaishankar said.
The EAM said there were three constraints India faced in the past which need correction. “First, we did not pay attention to our social indicators. Second, we did not pay attention to manufacturing and, third, foreign policy and hard security was not given much weight,” said Jaishankar.
Former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper paid rich tributes to India’s pace of development. “We should take a moment to recognise what remarkable progress India has made. Of all the countries that have emerged, there are very few that have depicted the economic advancement, eradication of hunger and in many other areas.”
Speaking about India at 75, Jaishankar said it would be pertinent if India looked at 25 years ahead and see where it had faltered. The next years should focus on globalisation and capacity building. “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,” Jaishankar pointed out.
Regarding Ukraine, the best way forward is to stop fighting and get the dialogue going. The conclave also saw a brief discussion on “coercion” that countries like India faced from China. “While facing China, the West needs India more in an effort to repair the world order,” said Velina Tchakarova, Director, Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy.
India during the past 75 years has played a key role in promoting democracy in South Asia. “There was a time in this part of the world that we were pretty much the only democracy. If democracy is global today, I think in some measure, the credit is due to India,” Jaishankar said.
India would like to see more prosperity in South Asia. If India has been in a sense an example of democracy in this region, we would now like to be part of a larger lifting tide so that the rest of South Asia grows with us, the EAM said.