‘India positioning itself as Vishwamitra’: Jaishankar on multipolar world

Asserting that India is not a “dogmatic civilisation”, Jaishankar said that India seeks friendship with as many countries as possible. 

“India is today positioning itself as a Vishwamitra. We seek to be friends with as many as possible… If you look deeper, there are cultural and historical factors at work as well, including the fact that we are not a dogmatic civilisation.”

“There is a capability aspect as well, which accounts for the self-confidence with which we approach the world,” he said.

Jaishankar said that there were cultural and historical factors to develop such friendships, including the fact that India was not a “dogmatic civilisation.”

Citing the “benefits” India’s QUAD alliance partners i.e United States, Japan and Australia gained from the partnership, Jaishankar said that these countries “navigated historical hesitations”. 

“The US, Japan, and Australia have benefitted from the QUAD. They are examples of overcoming the hesitations of history. UAE and Israel are from a region that is being engaged comprehensively at last. Russia and France are statements of multipolarity, ours as much as theirs,” he said.

“All these changes in the last decade were much of a credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal interest and leadership,” he said.

“If all these types have changed so much in the last decade, I’m sure you would agree with me that much of the credit should go to PM 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. In other cases, there was either pressure on us to limit our interaction or, in a few cases, longstanding ideological doubts to overcome,” he added.

(With ANI inputs)