Former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said India needs to be “equitable, fair and confident” when assessing right and wrong in international conflicts. He argued that New Delhi should do more on the Israel-Palestine issue and continue to strongly advocate for a two-state solution.
Speaking at the India Today BRICS Roundtable on Thursday, two days before the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Khurshid said India must clearly condemn wrongdoing and support what is right. He argued that this position had not been “amplified sufficiently” in India’s approach to international conflicts.
“Nobody said that it was right” when Hamas launched its October 5 attack on Israel, Khurshid said. At the same time, he questioned Israel’s “disproportionate retaliation” and asked whether the prolonged military campaign was being used as a justification to undermine the two-state solution.
“There are many questions. But if that was wrong, that was wrong. The issue is should you [Israel] disproportionately retaliate in the manner you do -- not just for a day or two but for an enormously long [period] and use that as an excuse to overturn the very idea of a two-state solution. I think that’s problematic,” he said.
Khurshid said India’s history and record of “being upright in the matter of being with the oppressed” meant that the country needed to take a stronger position.
He also stressed that India should avoid becoming isolated within BRICS by failing to show the same empathy towards people affected by conflicts that some of its BRICS partners demonstrate.
“There is a major issue with Palestine and there is a major issue with Gaza,” Khurshid said, pointing out that several European leaders had recently expressed support for the two-state solution.
According to him, the two-state solution had increasingly appeared out of reach but has now been “brought back to the table”. India, he said, has consistently supported the concept and should promote it wherever possible, including forums such as the SCO and Quad.
'INDIA MUST BRIDGE DIVIDE WITHIN BRICS'
Khurshid said India has a “very critical role” in first attempting to resolve differences within BRICS and then working with a united grouping to pursue broader objectives.
He noted that many of the divisions visible outside BRICS are also reflected among its member countries, with global developments further intensifying those differences.
Speaking about the challenges before the 18th BRICS summit, being held amid two wars, tariff disputes and supply-chain disruptions, Khurshid said many expectations from India had been “knocking on India’s doors” for years.
He said India had remained cautious, restrained and discreet for “a variety of considerations”. But with New Delhi now holding the BRICS leadership and representatives of member countries gathering in the capital, the key question was whether India would finally respond to those expectations.
“I think we would,” Khurshid said, adding that the world would closely watch how India provided leadership and attempted to bridge divisions within BRICS as well as beyond it.
'BRICS SHOULD NOT BECOME ANTI-SOMETHING'
Khurshid warned against pushing the world towards an even deeper division between the Global North and Global South. He said the Global South should instead have a stronger role in international governance and global institutions.
He distinguished between simply being “anti-something” and trying to persuade others with the aim of changing an approach that one does not fully agree with.
“It is very easy to be anti-something and take an applause and say I have done my job,” he said. However, he argued that India faces a greater responsibility to maintain unity and remain conscious of how countries observing BRICS would judge the grouping’s performance.
'BRICS, QUAD NEED CLEARER ROLES'
Addressing the question of what India gains from its membership in BRICS, Khurshid said there was a need to “rationalise how much each organisation can do”.
He pointed out that India is a member of both BRICS and the Quad, while emphasising that the two groupings are “in many ways completely different”.
“What is it that we do in BRICS and how does that influence what we do in Quad is a big question,” he said, arguing that there should be greater clarity about the respective roles of the two organisations.
‘ABANDONING NON-ALIGNMENT IS WRONG’
Khurshid disagreed with the view that India’s present foreign policy is simply a continuation of traditional non-alignment. He said conventional non-alignment may no longer be practically possible, but abandoning its underlying principles would also be a mistake.
“Non-alignment is an attitude, it is an ideology, it is an approach to the world,” he said.
He characterised multi-alignment as “an escape” rather than a viable long-term approach, while maintaining that the Non-Aligned Movement had been a realistic framework.
'INDIA MUST PROVE IT DESERVES A PLACE AT HIGH TABLE’
Khurshid said India could take pride in reaching the “high table” of international diplomacy, but warned that simply gaining that position was not enough.
“The higher you go, the greater the table you attend... you must be able to show that every minute you’re there you’re worth it,” he said.
He said this was the challenge before India, arguing that New Delhi could not repeatedly rely on the claim that it had already arrived at the high table.
On relations with the White House, Khurshid said dealing with the US remained a significant challenge. However, he suggested that the current situation might not last indefinitely or remain as “invincible” as it currently appears.
Referring to the November elections, he said India should preserve its ability to engage with the US after November 2026. “Some things can happen, some things can change — but we should be ready either way with an operational plan,” he said.
Khurshid also argued that domestic politics could no longer be separated from international affairs, as political developments within individual countries can influence their engagement with the wider world. He said this applied to India, Canada and every other country being discussed.
