Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr | A Seasoned Modi’s Brics Balancing Act

The 18th Brics Summit held in New Delhi with India in the chair has been the most un-Modi-like international conference of the last 12 years. It served as a contrast to the G-20 Summit that India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted in September 2023. This summit did not reverberate with the empty rhetoric of “vasudhaiva kutumbakam” that has been the signature of Mr Modi. The Prime Minister’s speech at the Summit was sober in tone, and matter of fact. It carried substantial suggestions, including that of creating a permanent implementation structure because the presidency rotates annually, and decisions taken in one summit need to be carried forward. The pyramid simile was effective where he compared the Global South placed at the base of the pyramid and the decision-makers with power and pelf at the top, and how the structure needs to be modified. There was no hint that the pyramidal structure needs to be replaced. The diplomatese is impressive.

There was also not much fanfare surrounding the summit even as the leaders of the many countries flew into the Indian capital. Life went on, with a few traffic diversions, as usual. There were the customary hoardings announcing the summit and a few featuring the Prime Minister. But it was not in-your-face stuff. Twelve years in power seems to have mellowed the PM and the government. The Rameswaram temple corridor which served as the background at the entrance where Mr Modi welcomed the guests remained an inconspicuous backdrop. There was no effort to flaunt India’s cultural riches.

Psychologists of power will have much work to do explaining the change in the Modi style, which leaned a little too much on vulgar pomp. It never reached the heights of grandeur. Political analysts might suggest that the Gen Z rebellion has been a pushback to the overconfidence and swagger of the Prime Minister and his aides, and he is not riding his hobbyhorse of India, the vishwaguru. Perhaps the most relevant factor about the Brics Summit this time round is that the war in West Asia has turned pretty grim on both the battlefront as well as the economic front. Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are on opposite sides of the conflict, were present at the summit, and what was needed was a balancing act. Mr Modi had reached out to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian with respect and friendliness. Though the Indian media juxtaposed Mr Modi’s greetings to his friend and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the occasion of the Jewish New Year with its coverage of the summit, it did not in any way cast a shadow on the Modi-Pezeshkian meeting.

Mr Modi and India showed diplomatic restraint in including the condemnation of Israel over the violence in Gaza, and also support for South Africa’s move against Israel in the International Criminal Court. It must have been a bitter pill to swallow for Mr Modi and the pro-Israel lobby in the government, but it must have been felt that in a large grouping like that of Brics, there is need to accommodate views and positions that India does not like. The omission of the Russia-Ukraine war is a clear signal that Brics, including India, consider the Russia-Ukraine as a European war. The situation in West Asia is something that impacts most members of Brics, including Russia because of Moscow’s ties with Tehran.

India and Mr Modi had to do a difficult balancing act because the presence of rivals at the summit was quite prominent. Apart from Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Egypt and Ethiopia were not on the same page either. China was in many ways the Big Brother in the room with its gargantuan economy but it was held in its place. The Modi-Xi Jinping bilateral did not overshadow the summit unlike the case with the India-Pakistan bilateral at the Saarc summit in Islamabad in 2004. Even the mention of the Pahalgam terror attack in the joint declaration did not overshadow it in the Indian media.

It was a skillful conducting of the Brics orchestra this time. There were different notes from the different corners, and they all had to be fitted in if not integrated. Mr Modi and India handled the challenge successfully. To do so, India had to be less dominant and also predominant. Given Mr Modi’s penchant for the personalised diplomacy, it was against the grain for him to maintain a relatively subdued profile. Mr Modi was quieter, dignified, yet quite firm and articulate about the agenda. The agenda was not about India, but the role India is to play in Brics by showing the way. The focus was on Brics, and the Prime Minister pulled it off.

He played the quiet host and not the role of the prominent man in the room. So much so, that the Chinese President Xi recalled his first visit to India when Mr Modi took him to his hometown, Ahmedabad, which had coincided with his birthday. Of course, Mr Xi is a shrewd leader and he does not let praise escape his lips lightly. He knows that China would need to keep India humoured on the trade front despite the fact of its overwhelming trade surplus with India. The Indian media did not go overboard with Mr Xi’s praise for Mr Modi. Everyone exercised restraint.

The point has become clear that the world is going through a troubled time on many fronts. Peace and trade had to pushed with eyes on the ground. Mr Modi talked about the free sea lanes by giving it a nice human touch when he said that there should be a system of responding to sailors in distress and the concerned national maritime authorities should shoulder the responsibility. It was a nice diplomatic googly. This is evidenced that Mr Modi has become a seasoned international leader who can handle himself with ease if Mr Pezeshkian and Mr Netanyahu were to be in the same room.