During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kazan, much of the attention of media and analysts in India was focused on his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. When Modi went to this Russian city to participate in the BRICS Plus summit, it is natural that he also addressed the summit meeting. That statement of his has received relatively little, yet, space in the Indian media. But what happened in the summit and what role India played in it, these points have gone to the background.
Whereas after many years, this time India was seen participating wholeheartedly in the BRICS summit. In 2020, when border disputes with China flared up, India’s presence raised apprehensions among the remaining member states – questioning whether India would become an obstacle to the fundamental agenda of BRICS? In this sequence, India also lost its leadership role in this forum. Today it is a reality that the agenda of this group is being decided by Russia and China. Despite this, this time the focus remained on Narendra Modi, there are many reasons for it.
However, this time there was definitely an indication that India has reconsidered its role in BRICS. Over the years, engagement with the US-led axis remained a priority in Indian foreign policy. At a time when the world is dividing into two camps and BRICS has become prominent among the emerging forums challenging Western dominance, India’s role has been at the center of discussion. BRICS is, in fact, an undeclared part of the broader emerging structure of forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union. Gradually, the declared or undeclared objective of all these forums has become to create an alternative to the Western-driven economic and strategic systems.
Whereas India itself did not want to be seen involved in any such effort. Even before the Kazan Summit, a statement was given by India that BRICS is a non-Western forum, but it is not anti-West. Despite these precautions, this time there has been a subtle change in India’s role. This is also evident from the Kazan Declaration (a joint statement issued during the summit), in which India agreed on many points on which it had objections till now. The question remains whether there has been a permanent change in India’s stance on those issues, or what was seen in Kazan is momentary?
The background to India’s role in Kazan was the agreement signed with China to handle the border dispute. India announced this agreement just a day before the Prime Minister left for Kazan. Pro-government media in India have presented the agreement as a victory for Modi’s influence and his diplomacy. Through all this, the ground was prepared for Modi’s formal bilateral talks with Xi Jinping in Kazan. Although it cannot be said that anything concrete was achieved in the bilateral talks. Still, it is important that the two leaders met and talked face to face.
The only concrete outcome of the Modi-Xi talks was the announcement that India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi would meet soon to take forward the broader question of resolving the border dispute.
During the meeting, Modi and Xi confirmed the agreement announced for border patrolling.
But during this period it also became clear that there is still a wide gap of distrust between the two countries. For example, Modi told Xi “Maintaining peace and stability on the border should be our priority. “Mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity must remain the foundation of our relations.”
On the other hand, Xi also stressed on maintaining peace and stability on the border.
It is undisputed that the above agreement could be reached because China softened its stance and gave at least two major concessions to India. Firstly, it agreed to keep separate procedures for resolving the disputes related to the borders of Ladakh and Arunachal as per India’s demand, and then conditionally agreed to give India the right to patrol in Depsang and Demchok up to the points where But he was not agreeing at first.
It is well known in diplomatic circles that Russia has been playing the role of indirect mediator since the Galwan Valley incident in 2020. President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have been active in ensuring that India and China do not openly stand against each other. According to experts, China and Russia want India to be helpful in strengthening the BRICS process. In his opinion, the opportunity to create a completely new world order, different from the Western world order, has become possible after many centuries. In the opinion of both those countries, if India, as a country of the Global South, wholeheartedly plays its role in the BRICS process, then the path to implementation of the new world order will become easier. (Why Mutual Trust Will Elude India, China Despite Patrolling ‘Deal’, Modi-Xi Meeting – The Wire)
It can be said that this bet has been successful to some extent. India’s complete agreement with the Kazan Declaration indicates this. Consider some of the points included in the declaration (Kazan Declaration: “Strengthening Multilateralism For Just Global Development And Security”):
BRICS Plus “expressed deep concern over the worsening situation and humanitarian crisis resulting from Israeli attacks in the occupied Palestinian territories – particularly the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
BRICS Plus demanded immediate implementation of a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. It demanded the immediate and unconditional release of hostages from both sides, large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and a halt to all offensive actions.
The declaration said- “We condemn Israeli attacks on humanitarian aid operations, facilities, personnel and distribution sites.”
BRICS Plus “condemns” the civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure caused by Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
BRICS Plus has expressed its support for protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
The declaration said- “We condemn Israel’s April 1, 2024 attack on Iran’s diplomatic compounds in the Syrian capital, Damascus.”
Apart from this, this group of developing countries has also condemned Israeli attacks on United Nations peacekeeping forces bases in Lebanon.
Since the war in Gaza started on October 7 last year, India had never agreed to any proposal to condemn Israel in such a strong language. That is why India’s role in Kazan has received everyone’s attention.
Apart from this, there are many such points in this joint statement of 134 paragraphs, which are directly related to the intention to create a new world order parallel to the Western monetary and strategic systems and the preparations being made for it. The issue that was most discussed before the summit was related to creating a new system of international payments. Significant progress was made in this direction in Kazan. India became a partner in this progress.
- BRICS Plus members agreed to explore the possibility of interconnecting their financial market structures to create an independent framework for cross-border payments and deposits. It has been agreed to name this structure BRICS Clear.
- Member countries have agreed to create a BRICS Re-Insurance Company, participation in which will be on a voluntary basis.
- The leaders of the member countries said- ‘We have entrusted the responsibility to our Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to continue discussions on the issue of payments in local currencies, preparation of payment structures and platforms and till the next BRICS summit. Give your report.
- BRICS Plus said- We recognize the importance of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) for preventing short-term problems related to the balance of payments and for financial stability.
- These countries have expressed their support for the creation of an alternative CRA framework.
Clearly, the purpose of all these preparations is to create an alternative to the IMF-World Bank run world financial system. In this form, BRICS has emerged as a challenge to the American pivot system.
Another important task before the summit was to consider the applications of various countries for membership of BRICS. Learning a lesson from the bad experience of the Johannesburg summit held in 2023, this time the BRICS leaders did not give full membership to any new country. But it accepted 13 countries as partner countries. If we look at the list of these countries, there are many among them whose conflicts with America and other western countries are well known. Prominent among them are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, and Algeria.
Apart from them, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam have also been made partners. Among these, Turkey attracts special attention, which is still a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Its application for BRICS membership has been considered a sign of changing winds in the world.
It is important that India agreed on the names of all the above mentioned countries. It is discussed that India objected to only one name and that is Pakistan. On the other hand, Brazil objected to his application due to its differences with Venezuela and Nicaragua that have recently emerged. The decision on the applications of those two countries has also been postponed, while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remained personally present in Kazan. Russia publicly supported Venezuela’s membership application.
However, Russia achieved a major objective through this summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin was successful in showing the Western world that despite all the Western sanctions and the announcement of its leaders to isolate them in the world, a large part of the world is with him. In this context, Narendra Modi’s presence had special significance. The photo was widely shared on social media by Putin supporters, in which he is holding Modi’s hand with one hand and Xi Jinping’s hand with the other. Putin accompanied Modi and Xi at the main event of the BRICS summit. That video was also widely shared, in which the three leaders were seen walking towards the venue, with Putin in the middle.
The hints, messages, and symbolic significance hidden in these photo-ops have been much discussed. Some people on social media also said that these pictures are disturbing Washington. At present only speculation can be made on why Modi became a part of this symbol. One of the main speculations is that the behavior of America and its partner countries is not as per Modi’s expectations. It is possible that this opposite behavior inspired Modi to become more active on the alternative platform. Especially the stance of those countries that came forward in the Pannu-Nijjar case is being seen to play a major role in this change.
।।।।।।।