Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not send the Raksha Mantri into the “dragon’s" den to seek consensus, but to detonate it. After it was found that China and Pakistan were trying to dilute the joint statement’s language on the grave issue of cross-border terrorism, Rajnath Singh simply refused to sign the document. This was India, on Chinese soil, finally tearing up the bankrupt script that has governed such hollow gatherings for far too long.

For years, the SCO has been a theatre of the absurd. A regional organisation where the chief sponsor of terror, Pakistan, sits as a member, shielded by its all-weather benefactor, China. India had dutifully played its part all these years, mouthing platitudes about cooperation while sitting across from the very state that weaponises jihad against Indians. This year’s summit, however, has shown that the era of polite fiction is now officially over.

The Qingdao meeting will be remembered as the moment India stopped........

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