Stating purposeful pursuit of national interest, EAM calls for change in shifting global dynamics

New Delhi, November 15: "The real obstacle to India's rise is not the barriers of the world anymore but the dogmas of Delhi", affirmed EAM S Jaishankar while delivering the fourth Ramnath Goenka Memorial Lecture in the national capital today.

 

Talking of Indian Foreign Policy in a changing world, the Minister said that a nation that has the aspiration to become a leading power cannot be dogmatic in approaching a visibly changing global order. 

 

 

"The very structure of international order is undergoing a profound transformation and cited the example of American nationalism, the rise of China, the Brexit saga and rebalancing of the global economy", he said. "On India walking away from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership", the Eternal Affairs Minister added that having no agreement is better than having a bad agreement. 

"Now, evidence strongly supports the view that India has advanced its interests effectively when it made hard-headed assessments of contemporary geopolitics. And even more so when it did not hesitate to break with its past. How has Indian foreign policy evolved since Independence? Understanding that is done best by dividing into six broad phases, each a response to a different strategic environment", he said. 

 

Highlighting India's new approach in dealing with terrorism, S Jaishankar compared lack of response to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to the way the country responded to the Uri and Pulwama strikes. "The Simla agreement of 1972 resulted in Pakistan continuing problems in Jammu and Kashmir", he affirmed.