External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar lashed out at ambassadors of Western countries for “reaching out to outliers” in India and similar societies. He said if Indian ambassadors do even a fraction of what European ambassadors do in India, they will all be up in arms. Jaishankar made these remarks while participating in a panel discussion on the topic ‘Live to Vote Another Day: Fortifying Democratic Resilience’ at the Munich Security Conference.
Jaishankar said, “Every country has its mainstream politics; it has its outliers. If I were to look, for example, at how much Europeans and Westerners reach out to the outliers in those societies. If I were to look at what Western ambassadors do in India, if my ambassadors did a fraction of that, you would all be up in arms.”
In a post on X, the External Affairs Minister said, “Highlighted India as a democracy that delivers. Differed with the prevailing political pessimism. Spoke my mind on foreign interference.” The Union Minister was joined by Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, US Senator Elissa Slotkin, and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski on Friday in the panel discussion.
He also expressed optimism over the direction of India’s democracy and stressed that India’s democracy has delivered. He spoke about how the elections are conducted in India and mentioned recent elections in Delhi and parliamentary elections held in 2024.
Jaishankar said that he differs in the view that democracy is in trouble globally and highlighted India’s democracy. He underscored that India is a democratic society and gives nutrition support to 800 million people.
He also noted that there are parts where democracy is working well and there could be parts where it is not. However, he underscored that it should not be considered a universal phenomenon.
Jaishankar noted that India has stayed true to the democratic model despite the challenges it has faced. He called it important that the West embraces the successful models outside the West if it wants democracy to prevail.
(With ANI inputs)
