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India joined SCO’s Iran statement. It must ensure China-Russia agenda doesn’t shape BRICS

India will have to carefully negotiate its path in the forthcoming BRICS Summit and balance strategic autonomy.

Like any other international event, the 26th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has generated sufficient photo-ops for the government to reiterate its claim of India’s ascending status in the global arena. Such a reiteration, and rightly so, becomes all the more important in the context of Pakistan’s total marginalisation. Especially when both India and Pakistan were hyphenated during the granting of membership in 2017.

India’s exalted standing in the assembly of member countries, the forceful arguments that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made during his address, notably on combating cross-border terrorism and his call for ending wars and creating a cooperative framework for sharing technology, were all truly worth something to write home about. But as a mature and responsible emerging economy, India needs to go beyond counting admirations and assess its decisions in global forums. 

At least three important aspects of the Bishkek Declaration merit deeper analysis and understanding, especially for India. New Delhi is going to host the BRICS Summit.

The Bishkek Declaration at the SCO condemned military strikes on Iran and backed a political and diplomatic resolution in direct reference to the conflict, endorsed by all ten member states, including India. However, it stopped short of naming Israel and the United States as it had done last year. 

Incidentally, India had disassociated itself from the statement by the SCO in June 2025, which had condemned “the military strikes carried out by Israel on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. 

However, three months later, India signed a declaration adopted at the SCO Summit in Tianjin, China, in September 2025. It described the strikes on Iran as “a gross violation of the principles and norms........

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