BRICS Success: How India Turned a Divided World into a Consensus Table

The New Delhi Declaration was adopted by the BRICS members despite substantial differences among them, particularly over the rapidly deteriorating situation in West Asia. Iran and the United Arab Emirates are themselves on opposite sides of a dangerous regional confrontation. Yet both endorsed a common position calling for restraint, dialogue, diplomacy, protection of civilians and respect for sovereignty. That is not a small accomplishment.

BRICS is no longer the relatively compact grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa with broadly comparable political and economic interests. It has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE. It now brings together countries with different political systems, strategic priorities, economic interests and foreign-policy alignments. The larger the grouping becomes, the more difficult consensus becomes. India, therefore, had to do something more sophisticated than simply preside over a meeting. It had to perform the role of a bridge.

This is where New Delhi’s achievement becomes important. India did not attempt to turn BRICS into an ideological or anti-Western alliance. Instead, it pushed the organisation towards practical cooperation and a larger role for the Global South in international decision-making. Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued that the Global South remains at the “front row” of global crises but at the “back row” of decision-making. That formulation captures the larger Indian ambition.

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The world order is changing, but its institutions have not changed at the same speed. Countries representing a substantial portion of humanity increasingly want a greater voice in institutions that determine the rules of global finance, trade, security and development. BRICS provides one important platform for that demand. India’s approach has been to make that demand constructive rather than confrontational.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s presence in New Delhi and his meeting with Prime Minister Modi demonstrated that India can simultaneously engage countries with which it has serious strategic disagreements. Modi and Xi discussed border peace, economic and people-to-people ties and the improvement of bilateral relations.

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For India, the BRICS chairmanship has therefore been an opportunity not merely to project its economic weight but to demonstrate a particular diplomatic personality confident, independent and capable of speaking to competing centres of power. The ability to accommodate disagreement is actually the greatest strength of BRICS. And India has shown that it can make that accommodation possible.

The New Delhi summit thus represents something larger than a successful international event. It is an assertion of India’s growing diplomatic weight and of its belief that the Global South need not choose between competing power blocs. It can have its own voice, its own interests and its own diplomatic space.

The world is increasingly fragmented. Wars, trade disputes, sanctions, strategic rivalries and economic uncertainties are pulling countries in different directions. In such an environment, bringing diverse nations to one table and persuading them to leave that table with a common declaration is itself an achievement. India did not merely host BRICS. It showed that, even in a divided world, consensus is still possible.