When it comes to defending India and showing a mirror to the West, Dr. S Jaishankar is the man to count on. As the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S Jaishankar has brought about an era of confidence and tough talk previously not known to Indian diplomacy. Today, every country needs to weigh its words concerning India, and not just spit out untrue nonsense. Jaishankar has created a sense of fear among diplomatic circles around the world – when talking about India, do so with all the respect at your command.
At the Raisina Dialogue – which is India’s annual flagship forum for geopolitics, Dr. S Jaishankar took the West to the cleaners once again. He seamlessly exposed Europe for its hypocrisy and said India was doing what it thought was best for its interests.
Jaishankar Makes a Statement, Again
The Indian Foreign Minister pushed back against European pressure for India to oppose Russia’s actions in Ukraine, by reminding European Foreign Ministers that they have been mute spectators for the past decade to all that has been happening in Asia.
He said the West should “remember what happened in Afghanistan less than a year ago, where an entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world”. Jaishankar added, “When the rules-based order was under challenge in Asia, the advice we got from Europe is do more trade. At least we’re not giving you that advice. In terms of Afghanistan, please show me which part of the rules-based order justified what the world did there.”
In response to another question from former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, Jaishankar said, “This could be a wake-up call for Europe, not just in Europe. It could be a wake-up call for Europe to also look at Asia. This has not been an easy part of the world for the last decade. And this is a part of the world where boundaries have not been settled, where terrorism is still practiced, often sponsored by States. This is a part of the world where… the rules-based order has been under continuous stress for more than a decade. And I think it’s important for the rest of the world outside Asia to recognize this. It’s not that problems are going to happen. The problems have been happening.”
Jaishankar reemphasised India’s principled stand on the Ukraine conflict and said that the war in Eastern Europe is one of the dominant issues in the world today. He reiterated India’s stand and asked for diplomacy and dialogue to be resumed while adding that the same can happen only when the fighting stops.
Jaishankar’s Hobby – Expose the West
Over the recent past, Jaishankar has helped India assert itself on the global stage again and again. We saw three big examples of his masterful diplomacy recently:
- Telling the West that India cannot be hounded for buying discounted oil from Russia because Europe itself remains a massive purchaser of Russian energy.
- Telling the Biden administration that India won’t take any condescending behaviour about its internal issues, and if US Secretary of State Antony Blinken can talk about the human rights situation in India then India too can talk about its concerns about human rights in the US.
- Telling the Biden administration that CAATSA is an internal issue of the United States and it is for them to sort it out. So, India won’t tolerate American bullying over Russian arms purchases and if the US has to continue its special relationship with India, then it will have to make the necessary adjustments.
Dr S Jaishankar is the Foreign Minister that India has been waiting for. He is the man who has brought a new sense of vigour to the country’s foreign policy. Today, no country can rant against India and expect to get away with it. Dr S Jaishankar and his team will deal with such elements in an unsparing manner.
