Senior BJP leader slams Modi for working with G4 to bag UNSC seat

Even as PM Narendra Modi hosted leaders of G4 countries (Brazil, Germany and Japan) in New York, Bharatiya Janata Party’s senior leader and former Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha strongly critiqued the PM’s G4 policy to bag a permanent seat at the United Nation’s Security Council.

In a stinging criticism of Modi, Sinha speaking to Karan Thapar on India Today, said the G-4 approach of “begging” was “demeaning”. Rather, in Sinha’s view, India must play a “more active, assertive and high profile role in international political and security issues especially in the fight against the Islamic State”.

Lambasting the Modi government for creating a “hype and an illusion” of India’s prospects which is totally “unrealistic”, Sinha asserted that the G-4 countries had negligible chances in the foreseeable future of securing a permanent seat.

In fact, the former foreign minister stated that there was little likelihood of an expansion of the Security Council; if and when that happens the new permanent members will not be given veto powers and will therefore be given second class status. “It would be demeaning of India to accept this,” in Sinha’s opinion.

Sinha said PM Modi made a “mistake” in continuing with the United Progressive Alliance’s strategy of relying on the G-4 and the G-4 summit meeting (as was taking place in New York currently) will only regress India’s chances rather than enhancing them.

According to Sinha, such a summit only serves to strengthen the opposition against the expansion of the Security Council. In his view, India should be exerting its (own) muscle in political and security issues just as it was exerting its economic muscle.

Accusing the Modi government of “misleading” the country, Sinha said the text of the General Assembly in September was not a “significant document” as was being claimed and nor was it a negotiating document but simply a compilation of the views of differing countries. In fact, the three crucial countries of America, Russia and China had not even given their inputs in it.

Sinha asserted that India made a “serious mistake” by not involving itself in the United States efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear programme and it now must fully involve itself in international and political issues.