National

PM Modi's interview with Wall Street Journal on world affairs and India's role

• By PIB, New Delhi
• Jun 20, 2023
• 104

There is an unprecedented trust between the leaders of the U.S. and India. India deserves a much higher, deeper and wider profile and a role.

We do not see India as supplanting any country. We see this process as India gaining its rightful position in the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these words while giving an interview with the US based Wall Street Journal. The interview was taken by the WS Journal's New Delhi bureau before his departure for three days US visit. 

While talking to the WS Journal, PM Modi said the world today is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. To create resilience, there should be more diversification in supply chains. For normal bilateral ties with China, peace and tranquility in the border areas is essential.

The 72-year-old leader called for changes to the United Nations and other international organizations to adapt them for an increasingly multipolar world order and to make them more broadly representative of the world’s less-affluent nations and their priorities, from the consequences of climate change to debt reduction.

PM Modi told the WS Journal that "we have a core belief in respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, observing the rule of law and peaceful resolution of differences and disputes. At the same time, India is fully prepared and committed to protect its sovereignty and dignity."

Overall, Modi’s message was that—from India’s role in global politics to its contributions to the world economy—the country’s time has come. He sought to portray New Delhi as the natural leader of the global South, in sync with and able to give voice to developing countries’ long-neglected aspirations.

All countries should respect international law and the sovereignty of countries, PM said adding that disputes should be resolved with “diplomacy and dialogue,” not war.

Some people say that we are neutral. But we are not neutral. We are on the side of peace. The world has full confidence that India’s topmost priority is peace.

There has to be an evaluation of the current membership” of the council “and the world should be asked if it wants India to be there, PM said.

India will do whatever it can” and supports “all genuine efforts to bring an end to the conflict and ensure enduring peace and stability. Mr Modi said he us the first prime minister to be born in free India,

“And that’s why my thought process, my conduct, what I say and do, is inspired and influenced by my country’s attributes and traditions. I derive my strength from it.”

He asserted that I present my country to the world as my country is, and myself, as I am.