External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar defended India’s move to purchase Russian crude oil despite having strict Western sanctions. He justified India’s way of dealing in times of crisis by saying that Indians are in priority for India in each inch of its foreign policy decisions. Purchasing oil from Russia has helped to meet India’s chunk requirement of crude oil for running its economy.
Moreover, he also stated that being one of the major importers of crude oil in the world, India’s decision to purchase crude oil from Russia was one of the factors to check the global inflation, which has not been acknowledged yet by the rest of the countries. Jaishankar explicitly mentioned that he was waiting for a ‘thank you’ from the global community to make this bold but calculated move.
Conversation connecting Indianism for global good
The conversation occurred with former FT editor Mr Lionel Barber in London, where Jaishankar had been asked to give his remarks on India’s purchasing of Russian oil. This was not the first time that a European TV show host asked this question to the Indian EAM. He has been asked the same question differently, sometimes with a critical tone for India’s move regarding the same.
Source: Look News India
EAM Jaishankar answered with a balanced logical and factual basis. This time, he also replied back with the same spirit of having respect for India’s bold decisions and India’s priority for its people. He added that India was at that time only thought about ‘Indian’. If India does not buy oil from Russia, the global price of oil can be a rising trend. The discounted price of Russia’s oil helped also to get India oil at a cheap price.
Previously, Jaishankar raised his voice against the US’s sanctions against Iran and used the influence to not purchase crude oil from Iran. This is the reason for the subsequent oil price rise in the international market.
Jaishankar on India-Canada issue
When the host of the show asked Jaishankar about Canada’s allegation that India had a direct hand in the murder of the leader of the Sikh separatist movement Hardeep Singh Nijjar, EAM pointed out that the allegation has no base. Since India enlisted him as a terrorist, that does not mean that Indian agencies are involved in the murder of someone.
Source: BNN Network
He further reiterated India’s official stance that there is no evidence of Canada’s claim. He added that the Indian government repeatedly urged to Canadian government to present evidence of India’s involvement in the murder. India is always in favour of the investigation, and if Canadian agencies have some kind of evidence to suspect India, then why they are silent to publish those pieces of evidence?- he elaborated.
Remarks on evolving India’s foreign policy
EAM Jaishankar agreed with the comment of the host when he said that India’s position is very different today from that of the Nehru period. Jaishankar, with a career-long involvement in Delhi’s policy matters, threw light on how secularism guided the polity of India in its initial days but ultimately ended up with equal respect for all in today’s Indian way of thinking. The new India has reflected the youth’s courage to cope with the changing situation worldwide. Indians have proved their capability almost in all sectors, be it in sports, IT services, or many others.
The people now understand that the bigger religion is with being national sentiment for capturing the growth of India’s ‘Amrit Kaal’. Lastly, Jaishankar raised his query about the delayed extradition of Indian fugitive fraudulent Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya with the UK govt and also mentioned the Khalistani extremism that occurred in Indian High Commission this year in March.
