New Delhi: India has become a “vishwabandhu” that works with everyone in harmony in a world that has instability, chaos and war, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi of sharing good diplomatic relationship with both the US and Russia. “A Vishwabandhu does ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ on global level,” he said.

“For our national security, we have so many partners, that we can join hands with America, Europe, Russia, Gulf countries or Israel,” Jaishankar said at an event in Odisha.

“A country that can deal with and establish partnerships with different countries for its national interests is called a Vishwabandhu. A Vishwabandhu does ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ on a global level,” he added.

India has maintained good relations with the US and Russia – both the countries often seen on opposite sides of the global stage. New Delhi has not changed its stand despite pressure from Western countries amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Similarly, India has abstained from voting against Israel at the United Nations, but has continued to provide aid to Palestine ravaged by Israel’s offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Jaishankar “my friend” and recalled his strong response to Europe and the West “to mind their own business” amid India’s alignment with Russia during the war in Ukraine.

“My friend, Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, was once at the UN, giving a speech. He was asked why they started buying so much oil from Russia. He advised them to mind their own business and reminded them at the same time how much oil the West had started buying and continued to buy oil from the Russian Federation. This is national dignity,” Russian Foreign Minister’s response was quoted by Sputnik news agency.

S Jaishankar has maintained that India’s stand and commitment to buy Russian oil should not be a problem for others.

“Is that a problem, why should that be a problem? if I am smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me. Is that a problem for others? I don’t think so, suddenly in this case. We try to explain what are the different pulls and pressures that countries have. it’s very hard to have that unidimensional relationship,” Jaishankar said.

The Finance Minister has maintained the position even while sharing stage with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Different countries and different relationships have different histories. If I want to look at the US and Germany, it is rooted. There is an alliance, nature to it. There is a certain history on which that relationship is grounded. In our case it’s very different, so I don’t want you to even inadvertently give the impression that we are purely unsentimentally transactional. We are not, we get along with people, we believe in things, we share things, and we agree on some things but there are time when you are located in different places have different levels of development, and different experiences all of that gets into that,” Jaishankar added.

“Life is complicated, life is differentiated. and I think it’s very important today. I agree with Antony which is, good partners provide choices, smart partners take some of the choices. But sometimes, there will be choices, you say I’ll pass on that,” he stated further.

Jaishankar’s Famous Quote On India’s Position Amid Russia-Ukraine War

When asked about India’s position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict during the 17th GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in Slovakia in June of 2022, EAM Jaishankar attacked the “European mindset” and stated: “…Somewhere, Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems… that ‘if it’s you, it’s yours’, but ‘if it’s me, it’s ours. I see reflections of that.”