S Jaishankar Says India's Democracy Has Now Delivered, More Representative Than Ever

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, honoured with the 'India First' award at NDTV's Indian of The Year event, said Indian democracy has delivered in its eighth decade of Independence.

"When I say democracy has delivered, I just don't mean that our elections are better than everyone else's. They are, but what I mean is that when you look at our politics, civil services, sports teams, and even journalists, we are far more representative than we have ever been before," Jaishankar said.

"In every walk of life, every part of India, there is equality of opportunity," the minister added. The success of Indian democracy is not something which is "elitist" or limited to the metropolitan section of the population, he stressed.

Jaishankar, while addressing the gathering at the event, said this is a "good moment" to the external affairs minister of India due to an "extraordinary period in national life".

The former bureaucrat-turned-politician said the nature of governance has transformed under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi. "Today, we have a prime minister with strong commitment to modernise India...There is a degree of energy and sense of purpose in this government."

India has also made notable achievements on the international front in recent years, he said. "If you look outside the country, we are charting our own way. We are, in a kind, the co-inventor of Quad," Jaishankar said, referring to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – the four-nation bloc comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States.

India is also pushing for the "IMEC connectivity initiative in Middle East", he noted. The IMEC or India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, which is aimed at fostering economic integration between Europe and South Asia via the Middle East, was announced in September 2023, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Referring to the border row with China since mid-2020, which was diffused to a significant extent in October following several rounds of diplomatic and military-level talks, Jaishankar said India handled the issue with firmness.

If one looks at the challenge that India faced for four-and-a-half years, and "to some extent we still do", it could be noticed that there was "firmness, determination, fortitude" in the way the matters were addressed.

This was also reflected in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, when India emerged as "one of the most efficient producers" of the vaccine against coronavirus, the minister noted.

"Much of the world has still not fully recovered from Covid's impact, even parts of Europe... But you can look at how India bounced back," he said.

The way India responds to terrorism has also undergone a change, Jaishankar said. A country that left something as major as 26/11 terror attack "unanswered" is now sending back a firm message like how it did in Uri and Balakot, he added.

Jaishankar also pointed out that India held the G20 presidency in 2023, at a time when the world was severely polarised. India shouldered the responsibility efficiently, and the presidency turned historic for several reasons, including the inclusion of African Union into the bloc, he noted.

The minister, during his address, also stressed that India is "now much more integrated into the world" than it was before. There are around 9 million Indians residing in the Gulf countries, and, if one counts the Non-Resident Indians and those holding Person of Indian Origin cards, the number worldwide adds up to around 33-34 million, he said.

India's trading relations with the world has also grown manifold as compared to when the Indian economy opened up in 1991, Jaishankar said. "...in 1991/92 we were a $250 billion economy with trade of $40 billion. Today we are a $4 trillion economy with trade of $80 billion. Think about that... I'm throwing these numbers out as a way of measuring how much more we are dealing with the world... how much we matter to the world."