India positioning itself as ‘vishwamitra’… generating goodwill, says Jaishankar

“India is today positioning itself as ‘vishwamitra’. We seek to be friends with as many as possible. This obviously generates goodwill and positivity towards us. It is reflected in the growing contribution we make to the global good. And indeed in closer engagement with the international community. In some ways, this is diplomacy 101. You could even say common sense. If you look deeper, there are cultural and historical factors at work as well, including the fact that we are not a dogmatic civilisation,” Jaishankar said while addressing a small gathering. Jindal Global Law School Vice-Chancellor C Raj Kumar was also present at the event.

“Now, because we are friendly, does this automatically mean that we have many friends? Certainly, as this book demonstrates, the metrics of evaluating relationships make a very powerful case. That these have progressed very significantly in India, yet it is important not to overstate, not to oversimplify, and not to over assume. Life is more complicated than that,” said the minister.

He said that the US, Japan, and Australia have benefitted from the QUAD. “They are actually examples of overcoming the hesitations of history… The UAE and Israel are from a region that is being engaged comprehensively at last. And the final two – Russia and France are actually actually statements of multipolarity – ours as much as theirs. If all these ties have changed so much in the last decade, I am sure you will agree that much of the credit should go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his personal interest and leadership because, remember, at least three of them had not even seen a high-level visit for three decades,” he said.