Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reaffirmed in comments on Tuesday that the government of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a permanent spot at the United Nations Security Council “as soon as possible,” but that the goal will take time due to resistance from the current permanent members.
Speaking in the northern Indian city of Shimla, Jaishankar complained that any expansion of the permanent seats on the Council would be slow because of the “clout” that the five who hold the currently existing permanent seats maintain. He nonetheless expressed optimism that India would eventually be promoted to permanent status, which would presumably grant it veto power over any resolution the Council considers.
The U.N. Security Council is the international organization’s most powerful body. Created in the aftermath of World War II, its permanent seats went to the victors of that conflict: America, Britain, France, China, and Russia. The powers regularly use their veto powers to support allies or promote their national interests, which in many cases prevents the Council from taking any meaningful action. The other ten members of the Security Council rotate the seats periodically; non-permanent members are elected every two years. Currently, the ten non-permanent Security Council members are Algeria, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Ecuador, Guyana, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Over 50 U.N. member states have never been on the Council.
India has been among the most vocal opponents of the current structure of the Council, arguing that, as the world’s most populous country and largest democracy, it is a prime candidate for permanent membership. Jaishankar lamented in his remarks this week that he did not believe the permanent members would want to cede some power to the rest of the world.
“Regarding UNSC permanent membership, our aim is to get it as soon as possible. But, this target won’t be achieved that soon. Because the permanent members, still enjoy much clout,” he said, according to Asian News International (ANI). “Whether it’s the Ukraine or Gaza, they make dealings among themselves on issues that affect the whole world. So, they won’t want that it (number of permanent members) becomes six, seven or eight.”
“So, if we have to come, we will have to make everyone aware, putting pressure and persuading them, only then will we achieve our target,” he added.
Jaishankar also claimed that India was invited to accept a permanent seat 50 years ago, “but the then-government didn’t accept it. They didn’t think the matter is of that priority.”
Jaishankar has described India elevating its status at the U.N. as a priority for Modi. In similar remarks at a forum on May 24, Jaishankar described Japan as one of many allies in seeking to reform the Security Council and described “multipolarity” generally as a global trend that would necessitate global reforms.
“India and Japan are close partners in our efforts towards a reformed multilateralism, including United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reforms,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying. “Let me reiterate that the contours of multipolarity are more visible today, than ever before. India believes in moving forward through engagement and dialogue, multipolarity and reformed multilateralism.”
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, left, attends a bilateral meeting with Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool Photo via AP)
“We will work with Japan and our Asian partners to realize a secure, sustainable and prosperous future of Asia,” he affirmed. Jaishankar was reportedly speaking at an event hosted by Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review.
In April, Jaishankar told reporters that, in addition to Japan, Germany and Egypt had collaborated with India on a Security Council reform proposal.
“There is a feeling across the world that this should change, and India should get a permanent seat. I see this feeling increasing every year,” Jaishankar said at the time, again describing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza conflict as evidence that the Security Council is failing.
“There is a feeling in the world that the UN has weakened. There was a deadlock in the UN on the Ukraine war and no consensus was reached in the UN regarding Gaza. I think as this feeling increases, our chances of getting a permanent seat will increase,” he predicted.
India’s foreign policy at the Security Council would not likely be predictably favorable toward any one party, as Modi has straddled the divide between Russia and China and the Western states with veto powers. India is a member of the BRICS coalition – including Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa originally, and expanded this year to include Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran. It maintains relatively friendly ties to the United States, however, and has struggled with an increasingly acrimonious relationship with China.
In the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, India has maintained unorthodox positions, refusing to stridently support either side of the issues. India has long maintained close ties to Russia, becoming a particularly reliable client for weapons and oil sales. New Delhi has opposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine invasion and increased its purchases of Russian oil since 2022. India has, however, condemned Russia after reports surfaced that anti-Ukrainian forces were scamming Indian nationals into fighting for Russia in the country.
The Indian government has also been among Israel’s most prominent supporters following the October 7 massacres by Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist coalition.
“People of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour,” Modi said in a message on social media following the Hamas attack. “India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
A senior spokesman for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), RP Singh, described Hamas at the time as “worse than ISIS,” adding, “They started it so we can’t say people from both sides have been killed.”
India nonetheless belongs to the BRICS coalition now alongside Hamas’s top supporting state, Iran, and virulently anti-Israel powers such as China and Egypt.
In 2020 – following a military battle on their mutual border that summer – reports began surfacing that China was the most vocal opponent to India receiving a permanent Security Council seat.
“There have been no serious attempts to come up with a consolidated text to begin formal negotiations [to expand the council] due to resistance by certain countries such as China that are opposed to the expansion of UNSC membership,” the Hindustan Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that year. The newspaper noted that China supported using “Intergovernmental Negotiations,” a powerless “informal” group within the U.N., to address the reform, which critics complained was a way to relegate any reforms to lower priority.
“In effect, after more than a decade, there has been no tangible progress [towards text-based negotiations] at all,” Indian deputy permanent representative to the U.N. at the time K. Nagaraj Naidu wrote in a letter that year. “In fact, the IGN process has become a convenient smokescreen to hide behind for those who do not wish to see any reform in the Security Council.”
