Bharat, China-Pak, and the Opposition… S Jaishankar responded to G20 criticisms.
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00:00No, India, that is Bharat. It is there in the constitution. Please, you are welcome to be stuck in 1983.
00:07I am sorry the country has moved on. We are in 2023. You have had summit meetings where the impact of the country
00:13probably went 2 kilometers on a good day out of Vigyan Bhavan.
00:30And everybody is talking about it. Even the Indian opposition says that it was earlier the summit meetings used to be done in a very quiet manner,
00:38very classy manner in Vigyan Bhavan, in Lutyens Delhi and now the BJP has made this into this big thing, not sticking to one city, going to several cities.
00:49Whose plan was this and was it, did you take other G20 nations in the…
00:55You see, if somebody felt that they were most comfortable in Lutyens Delhi or completely comfortable in Vigyan Bhavan,
01:04that's their prerogative. That was their world. So, yes, you have had summit meetings where the impact of the country
01:11probably went 2 kilometers on a good day out of Vigyan Bhavan.
01:16This is a different government. It's a different era. It's a different thought process.
01:21Prime Minister felt and, you know, all of us have worked in that direction that the G20 is something which should be treated as a national endeavor.
01:32That different parts of India must have a sense of participation and that this is something which has been truly, I would say, non-partisan.
01:45If you look actually at the G20 events, a lot of it were held in states which are not ruled by BJP governments.
01:52They are ruled by governments in the opposition. So, and you can see the result. I mean, to me, one of the big pluses of the G20
02:03is really how much more interested the people of India, especially the young people of India, have got in foreign policy.
02:10And they need it. Because, look, this is an, this is a globalized era. This is an era where the opportunities can be very global.
02:19Where the problems also, as we saw during Covid, can be global. So, we need to, you know, as part of the transformation of India,
02:28we need to create a global awareness in this country and I think the G20 has been very, very helpful in it.
02:37And, you know, for those who, you know, have feel that we should be stuck in 1983, I mean, please, you are welcome to be stuck in 1983.
02:47I am sorry the country has moved on. We are in 2023. – But the opposition says that you have lost focus on our neighborhood.
02:54Even though you have a neighborhood first policy, relations with Pakistan has taken a downturn. China, you yourself said we have abnormal relations.
03:02Has focus shifted by us looking at the big picture? – So, why don't you ask people in Sri Lanka?
03:09What do they think about the neighborhood? Why don't you ask people in Bangladesh? Why don't you ask people in Bhutan and Nepal?
03:17Do they feel that today India is doing more? Is India more reliable? Is India more relevant? You will get a very different answer.
03:27Now, if somebody says that the sign, the proof of a good foreign policy is to carry on with Pakistan as though a big terrorist strike hasn't happened and, you know, that's par for the course,
03:40then I am sorry, they have a different world view. That's not, that's not the kind of neighborhood first policy that we are running.
03:47The latest issue about G20 is the invitation card which says Bharat and not India. Now, that is the latest thing that is G20 going to reposition India as Bharat and not India as India?
03:59No, India that is Bharat. It is there in the constitution. Please, I would invite everybody to read it.