New Delhi Declaration: India’s diplomatic coup reflects its rising profile in comity of nations and PM Modi’s leadership

In Bali, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s formulation, “Today’s era must not be of war”, had saved the day after India burnt the midnight oil to help host Indonesia develop an acceptable outcome document at the proverbial eleventh hour. One year later, the bruising war is still ravaging Europe. If anything, it has become deeper, wider, and bloodier. Led by the US, NATO is engaged in a proxy war with Russia with Ukraine as the sacrificial lamb. Not just the battlefields, drones and missiles are raining down on cities, destroying civilian infrastructure, causing immense human suffering and entrenching further the intractable geopolitical positions. When India took over the presidency of G20 from Indonesia, even the bravest punter would have thought twice before betting on New Delhi emulating Bali’s fragile consensus. The signs were ominous. The ministerial meetings were ending with the chair, India, forced to release ‘chair’s summary’ in the absence of joint communiques. In July, for instance, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Gandhinagar after the third meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) that “we still don’t have a common language on the Russia-Ukraine war.” Under these circumstances, when the New Delhi summit kicked off Saturday, there was pessimism all around. No dearth of snide remarks from western media and policy wonks on how the success of India’s stewardship would depend on whether it manages to forge a consensus. To add to the suspense, reports indicated that both the warring sides were in no mood for compromise. And then it happened. The prime minister’s announcement in the afternoon, “I have got good news. From our team’s hard work, we have reached an agreement on the G20 declaration,” prompted a long round of applause from the summit leaders, widespread disbelief in the international community and an outpouring of satisfaction and pride in India. Few expected 83 paragraphs of full consensus with no dissent or footnotes, much less on the first day of the summit given the rift in the group over Ukraine. The text of New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration will be pored over and scrutinized threadbare. What’s in those lines, however, are less important than the fact that India has been able to persuade warring camps and come out with a joint communique symbolising full consensus at a time of war and entrenched bloc politics. At a time when Russia and China are challenging the US-led established world order, the fact that India has been able to do this is testimony to the prime minister’s leadership and India’s growing profile in the global comity of nations. The untiring, relentless effort of India’s sherpa Amitabh Kant and his team — in conjunction with the emerging economies of Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, all of whom contributed towards the outcome — cannot be downplayed. But slogging alone wouldn’t have been enough had it not been for the strategic sweet spot that India has managed to secure for itself, the appeal of its growing economy, deft diplomatic footwork, and the trust and chemistry that Modi enjoys among the world leaders. It was evident when the prime minister was caught in a frame in a three-way handshake with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Joe Biden. The importance of the frame lies in the fact Biden had vowed to ostracize the Saudi crown prince, and could only manage a fist bump last year in Jeddah that became a warm handshake in the presence of Modi in New Delhi. The strategic sweet spot has enabled India to gain a bit of semantic leeway from the West. It was crucial in achieving a consensus on a contentious few paragraphs regarding the war in Ukraine. Given the fact that China wants a dramatic break with the established global order aided by Russia, it wasn’t in the West’s interest to adopt obstructionism and deny India a consensus. Depending on the viewpoint, this may be construed as strategic altruism, or the growing relevance of India on world stage — a point that has been abundantly evident over the last few days. In keeping with India’s diplomatic tradition of strategic ambiguity, the text of the joint declaration is such that it may be variously interpreted. Though it failed to impress Ukraine, Rishi Sunak and Olaf Scholz were  as impressed by the language as Russia’s chief negotiator, Svetlana Lukash, who praised the text on Ukraine as “balanced”. It did take some doing, however. India’s G20 sherpa Kant said it took his team nearly 200 hours of “ruthless”, “nonstop negotiations” across nine months and four drafts to finally get it right on Friday night. Success doesn’t come easy. To suggest, though, that the New Delhi consensus is the biggest breakthrough that India has achieved in its G20 presidency would be misleading. Achieving consensus wasn’t the sole metric of India’s success. It is a monumental achievement, but the consensus is temporal. It speaks of India’s stature and diplomatic flex, but a far more lasting legacy will be its move to make G20 more inclusive and people-centric, as I had argued in my Friday’s column . To bring Africa into the global governance structure by literally and figuratively ensuring its seat in the global high table will remain India’s lasting legacy. It gives the 55-member African Union (AU) a permanent membership status and allows African voices to make a difference in debates over climate change and emerging-market debt. India’s focus, from the start, has been on getting everyone on board. It managed to pull off the consensus feat amid a cloud of geopolitical acrimony precisely because it avoided the blame game and put the spotlight on the larger picture — that G20 has a job to do instead of indulging in endless bickering. This pragmatic approach enabled G20 to take a proactive approach on the most pressing challenge facing humanity — climate change —by adopting the green development pact. That’s real diplomacy. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.