"Can't Be Pale Imitation Of...": S Jaishankar's Firm Take On Ukraine Stand

The foreign minister reaffirmed New Delhi's non-aligned foreign policy amid intense pressure from the West to take a strong stand on Russia's Ukraine invasion.

India does not need the approval of any other nation for the path that it chooses to take, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said today, reaffirming New Delhi's non-aligned foreign policy amid intense pressure from the West to take a strong stand on Russia's Ukraine invasion.

New Delhi, said Mr Jaishankar, cannot please other nations by being a "pale imitation" of what they are.

''We have to be confident about who we are. I think it's better to engage with the world on the basis of who we are rather than try and please the world by being a pale imitation of what they are," the Foreign Minister said at the Raisina Dialogue, an international gathering of leaders and policy makers in New Delhi.

"The idea that others define us, that you know somewhere we need to get approval from other quarters, I think, that's an era we need to put behind,'' he stressed.