External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Friday interacted with students at DU’s Aryabhatta College as part of the BJP's ongoing national outreach based on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government's nine-year tenure. This was his first public dialogue after he began the Delhi leg of the initiative from a gurdwara in West Delhi Thursday. Along with former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Jaishankar is at the helm of the outreach at four of the seven Parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. The ‘Samvad, Dialogue with Students' also saw students from Ramlal Anand College. New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi and Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva were also present. In his address, Jaishankar spoke about India’s G20 initiatives, education infrastructure, Covid response, technological developments and global crisis mitigation efforts. In response to a question on how the G20 presidency can help India become a global power, Jaishankar said: “After the Ukraine conflict and Covid, there is sharp conflict between nations. people believe that somebody like Narendra Modi will be able to get countries on a common ground.” The BJP's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' policy was also a part of its foreign policy, he said, in reference to India's response to the pandemic. “People trust us, the world thinks that this Prime Minister helped us during Covid and listened to us during G20,” he remarked. To another question, he added that the Prime Minister had demonstrated that the Gulf was now among the country's “strongest friends.” In response to a question regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi talking about India’s issues at international fora, he said: “In any democracy, there will be arguments, issues, and opinions as there should be, but if you say that India has big problems and great concerns and the world should do something about it then you are inviting trouble.”
