India’s Credo of Not Interfering in Global Issues Should Change, Jaishankar Says

India has taken a firm stand on some ongoing global issues, such as the Ukrainian crisis and tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, as Delhi has refused to follow the West’s approach, placing its national interests above everything else.

While the West is persuading India to follow suit on issues such as the Ukraine crisis and the Asia-Pacific, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says that the time has passed when Delhi used to “keep national interest aside for vote bank politics.”

The diplomat-turned-politician said that India should leave behind its credo of not interfering in emerging global issues.

“Maybe in 1950-60, we did not have the capability. We had our own interests. But now, just a few days back, we have reached number five in the world in the economy. The thinking of an entity which is at number 20 and the one who is at number five cannot be the same,” Jaishankar said at an event in PM Modi’s home state, Gujarat.

The Modi-led government has transformed its approach to dealing with global issues, Jaishankar explained.

"There is specific thinking, concept or nature in Delhi on how to deal with the world. How to change it?" Jaishankar underlined.

Jaishankar, who was appointed a cabinet minister by PM Modi in 2019, said that India's decision to continue buying oil from Russia is more in people's interest than foreign policy.

"PM Modi's instruction was -- we need to think about our people first," he said.

India has enhanced its Russian oil intake since the beginning of special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. Russia is India's third largest oil supplier, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia.