External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that information shown in foreign media should not “necessarily” be taken at “face value”. In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, he took a shot at sections that have talked about democracy indicators dipping in India.
“There are people who apparently feel more confident of their support outside India, while inside India, they get support from outside…We’ve had this since 2014 (and) it increased in 2019. I’m sure it will become very shrill as we lead up to the summer of 2024…They (sections) will pick what they believe are flaws or failings that we have,” he said at the interview.
The External Affairs Minister’s response came after he was asked about articles in foreign media that mention ‘assertive India’ on one hand, and on another, talk about democracy indicators reducing.
Making gestures to air quote ‘democracy’, Jaishankar said these articles swaying between two types of narratives is “a mind game”. He further talked about making some references to such narratives in his new book ‘Why Bharat Matters’.
“I’m not saying we’re perfect…(or) we don’t have room for improvement. Everybody does. We certainly do. But…please look at their motive and their agenda. They are not agenda-less, they are not motive-less, they are trying to push a certain line because they have a certain interest, so don’t necessarily take what comes in foreign media at face value,” Jaishankar added.
He questioned those judging the status of democracy in India, saying that the country is “doing as well as any other democracy”.
“You are talking about (the) state of democracy in this country; give me any yardstick of democracy. Are your elections fair? Is your participation growing? Are broader and broader sections involved? Are your institutions working? I would say I am doing as well as any other democracy. Frankly, if anything, I could be passing judgement on (a) lot of others,” the External Affairs Minister added.
Citing his book, Jaishankar said that in one of the chapters of his book, he talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi feeling the “need for a new construct” after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014.
Jaishankar talked about India making progress with its ties with nations in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Gulf, and Central Asia, highlighting that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) did not see a visit from an Indian Prime Minister for 34 years before PM Modi’s in 2015.
“Look at the Indian Ocean…again we were dealing with it (as) this island (and) that island…piecemeal…there wasn’t a single integrated construct. And again, in the case of Central Asia, that intensity of connection wasn’t there,” Jaishankar told ANI.
“Then, the ability, really to engage major powers, engage not in the sense of ‘keep us out of your problems’ because that’s a kind of ‘I don’t want to get caught in the big debates of the day’. That’s not what we are saying. We are saying that ‘we have stakes in the big debates of the day’…I will take my call, but there is no exclusivity in any of my relationships. I reserve that I have to deal with each one of you as per my national interest and also prepare for a…global footprint,” he said.
Jaishankar also took a dig at Pakistan by saying that the country’s core policy has been to use “cross-border terrorism to bring India to the table”, but India made that irrelevant by not “playing the game”.
Notably, PM Modi visited the UAE in July last year as well, and was accorded a grand welcome in the country. The iconic Burj Khalifa there was illuminated with the colours of the Tricolour. During his visit, PM Modi met the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
