New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) India’s grand strategy has delivered a significant diplomatic win at the 18th BRICS Summit, successfully aligning diverse interests while bringing pragmatism and sense to multilateralism and sending a clear message about the country’s strategic rise, a report has stated.
New Delhi’s approach at the BRICS summit reflected a clear effort to advance its grand strategic objectives, reinforce its global message, and enhance its strategic relevance. It ensured that the summit does not turn into a geopolitical confrontation or a contest for influence between major powers, particularly Russia and China, a report in India Narrative detailed.
“Three key shifts are essential to ensure its strategic autonomy works on both fronts: national and global interests. First, make multilateralism practical by pushing institutional and structural reforms in global governance rather than echoing bloc politics. Second, India’s BRICS vision, as enshrined in its re-anchored acronym, must be promoted by becoming a strategic enabler to strengthen cooperation and resilience. Third, project India as a global major player, providing strategic and sustainable alternatives to navigate global crises, by concretising supply chain and economic security through diversification and greater inclusivity,” it mentioned.
According to the report, hectic backroom negotiations appeared to underline a seamless blend of strategic de-hyphenation and strategic autonomy.
India has pursued strategic de-hyphenation to keep the multilateral forum practical and focused beyond conflicts, tensions and geopolitical contestations, while using strategic autonomy to foster convergence of interests, bring economics to the centre of the narrative and further the BRICS agenda set by New Delhi, it mentioned.
“Together, these strategic manoeuvres have, to some extent, helped manage political tightness in the event and create room to negotiate and bring everyone to the table, especially the Global South, for consensus-building on a declaration or key statement. The same mix of de-hyphenation and autonomy worked effectively at the G-20 Summit three years back, under the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine War,” the report stated.
“Apprehension did revolve around the summit, and many feared it would fail to reach a declaration. Still, India shifted the narrative, aligned national and global interests, and ensured the Global South was represented, so the spirit of the agenda and its values prevailed. India’s recent decision to sign the SCO declaration, which toes Iran’s stance, saw the joint declaration strongly condemn military strikes on Iranian territory and criticise unilateral Western economic sanctions,” it noted.
The report highlighted that a major win for India was the successful exercise of strategic autonomy, which helped advance its strategic relevance and interests, alongside the strong condemnation of terrorism, particularly the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorists. The declaration reaffirmed the bloc’s commitment to combating terrorism in “all its forms and manifestations”.
“In a diplomatic victory for India, the declaration specifically condemns in the ‘strongest terms’ the April 2025 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed, and several others were injured. The declaration also singles out the cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing, and safe havens, while expressing zero tolerance for terrorism and rejecting double standards in countering terrorism,” the report highlighted.
–IANS
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