Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram has questioned the concrete advantages India derives from its participation in major multilateral groupings—including BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), G20, and QUAD—sparking a sharp political row ahead of the upcoming BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
Speaking to news agency ANI ahead of the September 12–13 summit, Chidambaram stated that he has failed to see any significant or tangible outcomes from the past two or three BRICS meetings, contrasting them with earlier summits that yielded concrete results.
Political Reactions
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BJP’s Retort: Hitting back at the opposition, BJP President Nitin Nabin invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “naraaz phupha” (sulking uncle) analogy, accusing Congress leaders of being unable to stomach the country’s diplomatic and economic progress. Senior BJP leader Nalin Kohli further criticized Chidambaram’s stance, questioning whether the opposition views foreign policy purely through a transactional “give-and-take” lens and pointing out that such rhetoric undermines India’s global diplomatic standing.
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Summit Preparations: The remarks come as New Delhi finalizes security and infrastructure preparations to host leaders from Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE for the 2026 BRICS Summit under the theme ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’.
