India has all the time exerted its strategic autonomy, Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar mentioned, referring to India’s determination to signal a friendship pact with the Soviet Union in 1971, as a “necessary” alternative, given the triangular threats India confronted from the opposite huge powers, the USA and China. Talking on the launch of the Aravalli Summit, organised by the Jawaharlal Nehru College’s (JNU) College of Worldwide Research, marking its seventieth anniversary, Mr. Jaishankar, an alumnus of the varsity himself, mentioned that it was needed for college students of international coverage to issue a way forward for multi-alignment and multipolarity. Mr. Jaishankar mentioned latest international volatility, together with the imposition of tariffs by the U.S., had made the case for multi-alignment, greater than allying with anybody energy, a lot stronger.
“Imagine if [India were] not today adopting strategic autonomy. Please tell me, which country in the world would you like to join up with and put [India’s] future in their hands?” he requested. “I can’t think of anybody. [India’s] interest is best secured by maximising its options, maintaining [its] freedom of choices,” he mentioned. Mr. Jaishankar’s feedback got here a day after he mentioned that commerce negotiations with the U.S. must respect India’s “red-lines”.
The federal government has additionally been dealing with elevated strain from the U.S. over the problem of Russian oil imports. Whereas Mr. Jaishankar didn’t refer on to India’s place, amidst stories that Russian oil imports in September have been significantly decreased, he praised India’s stand throughout the 1971 struggle with Pakistan and Liberation of Bangladesh, when India signed a Friendship Treaty with the Soviet Union.
“What we did was in our national interest — we were dealing with a U.S.-China triangle and we had to find a way out of this,” Mr. Jaishankar mentioned, answering questions from college students on the occasion, which was co-hosted by the Ministry of Exterior Affairs, and the newly launched, Delhi-based, Adani Group-owned suppose tank Chintan Analysis Basis. “So, the decision we took in the midst of an acute national security crisis, was necessary,” he added, addressing the viewers, which included plenty of diplomats, together with, considerably, the Ambassador of Russia to India Denis Alipov, and Bangladesh Excessive Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah.
When requested about India’s neighbourhood first coverage amidst indicators of strains with plenty of neighbours together with Bangladesh, and protest-led regime adjustments in Sri Lanka and Nepal, Mr. Jaishankar mentioned India needs to be ready to unilaterally “underwrite the infrastructure for cooperation” with nations within the area, and will turn out to be the “go-to option” for neighbouring nations when in want.
“Every country has problematic neighbours, and every big country has more problematic neighbours,” the Exterior Affairs Minister mentioned, stressing that the aim of India’s coverage was not merely to unravel issues, however to “manage relationships to national advantage”. With out immediately naming Pakistan, he mentioned that barring one nation, India has effected “transformational change” in tasks with neighbouring nations, within the areas of vitality, roads, railway traces, and the motion of individuals.
To a query in regards to the “re-hyphenation” of India with Pakistan, submit Operation Sindoor, and a reference to latest developments the place the U.S., Saudi Arabia, China, Turkiye, and different nations have cast nearer ties with Islamabad, Mr. Jaishankar mentioned that India “cannot wish away a difficult neighbour”, as that may be a “reality”. However he mentioned that different nations not draw an equivalence between India and Pakistan.
Revealed – October 06, 2025 10:01 pm IST
