Who still dares to call India’s foreign policy a failure? Only the willfully blind or the intellectually dishonest. The latest summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has once again demonstrated how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy is rewriting the rules of global engagement. The joint declaration signed at the summit carries unprecedented weight. For the first time, all SCO members—including China—unanimously condemned terrorism and cross-border terror, with explicit reference to the horrific Pahalgam attack that claimed the lives of 26 innocent tourists. This is no ordinary development. For years, Beijing shielded its “all-weather ally” Pakistan, refusing to even acknowledge terror strikes emanating from its soil. Only months ago, it dared to demand an “impartial probe” rather than condemn the massacre. India rightly refused to endorse the SCO ministerial declarations that tiptoed around terrorism. Today, the tables have turned: China has been compelled, as host and founder of SCO, to sign on to a language it once resisted. That, by itself, is a monumental achievement for Indian diplomacy. This shift is not a matter of semantics. It signals the acceptance of Modi’s global vision—Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” For a platform as diverse and often divided as the SCO, to embrace India’s framing of terror as the central challenge to peace marks a decisive victory in both principle and policy. The diplomatic dividends did not stop there. Russian President Vladimir Putin went a step further by acknowledging that both Modi and Xi Jinping are playing a constructive role in addressing the war in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself reached out to Modi recently, urging India to help mediate a path to peace. This is a telling moment. When warring nations look not to Washington or Brussels, but to New Delhi for a way forward, it signifies a profound realignment of trust and credibility in world affairs.
Contrast this with America’s recent record. Donald Trump’s reckless tariff wars have not only unsettled global markets but also humiliated the United States on the diplomatic stage. His habit of mixing personal business interests with matters of state has eroded confidence among allies and emboldened adversaries. Ukraine, in particular, has learnt the hard way that Washington’s promises come laced with hidden agendas—chief among them Trump’s thinly veiled hunger for control over critical mineral reserves. This is what pushed Kyiv to re-evaluate its reliance on the United States and to turn toward New Delhi. What if Modi and Putin succeed in bringing Zelenskyy and Moscow to the negotiating table? Such a breakthrough would not only reshape the trajectory of the war but also underscore India’s role as a responsible, credible, and stabilizing force in global politics. Washington, meanwhile, finds itself sidelined, its influence diluted by its own hubris. The shrill and unacceptable remarks made recently by Trump’s advisors against India have only deepened the sense of alienation. Even sections of the U.S. Congress now recognize that a new geopolitical order is taking shape—one driven not by Western diktats, but by Asian pragmatism and multipolar balance. At the heart of this order is India, navigating with rare dexterity between Moscow and Washington, Beijing and Brussels, standing firm on principles while flexible in practice. The SCO declaration is not just a piece of paper—it is a testament to India’s rising moral and strategic authority. No wonder the developments at the summit have rattled Washington. A frustrated Trump could muster no more than a sulking tweet, signing off the day with a curt “Good Night.” For once, the message was less a farewell to the day than a reluctant admission that America is fast losing its monopoly on global leadership—while India ascends as the indispensable voice of reason, balance, and hope.
