‘All eyes are on India right now,’ wrote The Diplomat. The reference was to the BRICS summit in New Delhi (12-13 September). It went on to observe: ‘Leading the group today is a diplomatic minefield’. Such a state of affairs is unfortunately as much a result of Narendra Modi’s misguided foreign policy as developments beyond his control.

BRICS began in 2009 as BRIC—Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the consortium in 2010 and attended its first meeting in 2011. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were admitted as full members in 2024—despite India’s objections—and Indonesia in 2025. The same year, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam were designated partner countries. Together, BRICS accounts for 40 per cent of global GDP and 49.5 per cent of the world’s population.  

As long as India under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh maintained its post-Cold War position of multi-alignment, India commanded respect. This changed when Modi leapt into the lap of the US and turned India’s foreign policy on its head by getting into bed with Israel—a pariah for other BRICS members.

On most international issues of note, ‘Modi-fied’ India was out of step with other BRICS states, most conspicuously on Israel’s war crimes in Palestine and its unprovoked attacks on Iran. Far from condemning Israel in any forum, India has stayed in Israel’s corner—even supplying it weapons—which makes it a conspicuous outlier in BRICS.

The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in May, with India in the chair, dispersed without a joint statement and was deemed a failure. New Delhi has been worried about the BRICS summit going the same way, and........

© National Herald