BRICS should be non-West forum, but not anti-West: Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said India should push for BRICS to remain a forum that is “non-West, but not anti-West”, arguing that projecting the grouping as an anti-Western platform would not be in the country’s national interest.

Speaking to PTI Videos, Tharoor said some BRICS members were keen to give the grouping a geopolitical, anti-Western character. However, he said India, as the host and chair of the summit, should focus on advancing its own interests while highlighting the concerns of the Global South.

“We want BRICS to be a forum that is non-West, but not anti-West. That is not the same agenda as every other country. Some others in BRICS are very happy to take it as a geopolitical, non-Western, but also anti-Western platform,” Tharoor said.

“And I would like to say that would not be in India’s national interest,” he added.

Tharoor described India’s hosting of the BRICS Summit as a matter of “great prestige”, with around a dozen heads of state and government, including leaders from member and observer countries, expected to attend at the presidential and prime ministerial level.

He said the summit would also provide an opportunity for important bilateral engagements, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to hold meetings with visiting leaders seeking talks. He said PM Modi’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin would attract particular global attention, while other bilateral discussions would also be significant.

On India-China relations, Tharoor said the problems in the bilateral relationship had come entirely from the Chinese side and that ties had remained strained since the Galwan clash in 2020.

He accused China of attempting to alter ground realities along the undefined border, making unhelpful statements and creating difficulties over visas for Indians. Tharoor also alleged that Beijing had used trade leverage by withholding essential goods on which Indian importers depended.

“A self-respecting India is not going to keep knuckling under to those things. I think it’s important to understand that we will also stand up for ourselves in one way or the other,” he said.

Tharoor said any meeting between PM Modi and Xi would be important, but added that India would be looking for “a little more flexibility, understanding, and friendship coming from the Chinese side than they’ve shown us in the last six years”.FOCUS ON GLOBAL SOUTH

Tharoor said BRICS was an important platform for the Global South, pointing out that its 11 members represented a majority of the world’s population and 41 per cent of global GDP.

He said the presence of top leaders at the summit demonstrated India’s diplomatic convening power. At the same time, he acknowledged the difficulty of finding common ground among BRICS members on major global issues.

Referring to previous meetings of BRICS foreign ministers, Tharoor said the grouping had failed to reach a consensus on issues including the Iran-Iraq war and the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, India, as chair, had issued a chairman’s declaration rather than a joint declaration.

He said a similar outcome at the summit could be viewed by some as a setback and would put Indian diplomacy to the test.CHALLENGES REGARDING TRADE

Tharoor also raised concerns over the trade balance within BRICS, saying commerce among member countries had grown but often to India’s disadvantage, with Indian exports to BRICS countries declining while imports increased.

He also referred to a US law signed by President Donald Trump that authorised 100 per cent sanctions if India continued trading with Russia. Tharoor said such a move could make Indian goods unviable in the US market.

Against that backdrop, he said India needed to consider whether BRICS could help diversify its export markets and communication channels if relations with the US became increasingly unpredictable and volatile.

Overall, Tharoor said the BRICS Summit presented India with an opportunity to advance the interests of the Global South, while also testing its ability to balance diplomacy, trade considerations and national interests.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 11, 2026 20:17 IST