For the second time in a week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the outdated structures of the United Nations, turning the mirror on the global body and urging it to fix its internal crisis so that it could reflect the world as it exists today rather than as it was in the 1940s.
“For how long will India be kept out of the decision making structures of the United Nations?” Modi questioned the UN.
“When we were strong, we were never a threat to the world, when we were weak, we were never a burden to the world”, he said.
Modi promised the world that India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, would share its therapeutic solutions with the global community.
“India is proud of the fact that it is one of the founding members of the United Nations. On this historic occasion, I have come to this global platform to share the sentiments of 1.3 billion people of India,” he said.
“The world of 1945 was significantly different from today’s world. The global situation, sources, resources, problems, solutions. All were quite different. And as a result, the form and the composition of the United Nations was established with the aim of global welfare, but in accordance with the prevailing situation of those times.”
“Today, we are in a completely different era. In the 21st century, the requirements and challenges of our present as well as our future are vastly different from those of the past.”
“Therefore, the international community today is faced with a very important question whether the character of the institution constituted in the prevailing circumstances of 1945 is relevant, even today, with the changing times,” Modi said.
“One could say that we have successfully avoided a third World War. But we cannot deny that there have been several wars, and many more civil wars. Several terrorist attacks have completely shaken the world and rivers of blood have continued to flow by in these wars. And in these attacks, the people who died – they are people just like you and me. Hundreds of thousands of children who would have otherwise enriched this world by their presence, have left us prematurely.
“So many people have lost their entire life savings and have become homeless refugees. During those times and even today, can we suggest that the efforts of the United Nations to tackle these issues is sufficient over the last eight to nine months?” he asked.
Modi said the whole world has been battling the pandemic of the coronavirus. “Where is the United Nations in this giant fight against the pandemic. Where is its effective response?”
“Reform in the responses, in the processes, in the very character of the United Nations is the need of the hour. It is a fact that the faith and respect that the United Nations enjoys among the 1.3 billion people of India is unparalleled. But it is also true that the people of India have also been waiting for a long time for the process, for the reforms of the United Nations to get completed.”
“Today, the people of India are concerned whether this reform process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision making structures of the United Nations?”
