There seems to be a small problem inside the Congress party when it comes to India’s foreign policy, everyone does not appear to be reading from the same script.
Ahead of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram questioned what India has actually gained from the grouping. He said he did not think the last two or three BRICS summits had produced “tangible benefits or tangible results” and similarly questioned the value India was getting from other groupings such as the SCO, G20 and QUAD.
Fair enough. Governments should be questioned, and international groupings should be judged by what they deliver rather than by photographs of leaders shaking hands. But then comes Shashi Tharoor.
The Congress MP and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor has struck a considerably different tone on BRICS. While advising the government to protect India’s national interests, Tharoor has argued that BRICS should remain “non-West” rather than an “anti-West” platform. He has cautioned India against allowing the grouping to become openly confrontational towards Western countries.
One Congress leader is asking, “What benefits are we getting out of BRICS?” while another is effectively saying that India should use BRICS carefully as part of a balanced foreign policy.
Perhaps that is the real Congress-vs-Congress story, and Tharoor has a point about using the platform strategically.
The bigger question is, does Congress have a common foreign-policy position on BRICS, or is this another case of Congress versus Congress?
