For decades, analysts predicted a “multipolar world,” as if it were some distant mirage. Today, that mirage has turned into a geopolitical storm—loud, visible, and undeniable. The old Western-centric order that dictated global affairs for nearly two centuries is losing altitude, and the ascent of BRICS has exposed the cracks in what Washington and Brussels once believed was an unshakeable system. The shift isn’t theoretical anymore. It is unfolding in real time—through expanded alliances, assertive economic blocs, and even candid admissions from Western leaders themselves. When US President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged BRICS’ growing influence and contrasted it with the West’s exhaustion, he inadvertently validated what much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have long argued: the world’s balance of power is no longer controlled by a single pole. This acknowledgment isn’t trivial posturing. It reflects a strategic vacuum that the West itself created. Trump’s second term, punitive tariffs, technology sanctions, and a retreat from foreign aid became tools of coercion. As analyst Sumeet Jain has argued, these very policies accelerated the fragmentation of the old-world order. The unintended consequence: emerging powers found the political space—and motivation—to build alternative frameworks free from Western gatekeeping. At the centre of this seismic shift stands India. And at the centre of India’s strategic reorientation stands Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s diplomacy is not merely assertive; it is a complex blend of realpolitik, civilizational identity, and pragmatic global outreach. The COVID-19 pandemic was a turning point. As Western nations hoarded vaccines, lectured on morality, and left global bodies paralyzed, Modi recognized the futility of depending on Western goodwill. A “New India” emerged—self-assured, self-reliant, and unwilling to play second fiddle in someone else’s geopolitical orchestra.
India’s deeper engagement with BRICS is a deliberate move, not an emotional reaction. It gives India strategic latitude without ideological baggage. Unlike Cold War alignments, BRICS carries the legacy of the Non-Aligned Movement while embracing modern economic, technological, and digital cooperation. It allows India to speak from a position of autonomy—rooted in Sanatana values but attuned to 21st-century realities. Despite repeated threats, pressure campaigns, and backdoor efforts by Western capitals to splinter the coalition, BRICS has not only held firm but expanded. With ten members and more in the queue, it has become a genuine alternative platform for emerging nations long frustrated by IMF-World Bank orthodoxy and NATO-style power politics. As reported by the Geopolitical Economy research network, this is nothing short of a reassertion of “autonomy that was long suppressed under unipolar dominance.” But this transformation isn’t just about summits, acronyms, and diplomatic choreography. It affects billions of people. A multipolar world promises new pathways for development—less conditionality, more respect for local cultures, and policy models that merge modern science with indigenous knowledge systems. It reopens space for civilizational voices that were once dismissed as outdated or inconvenient. Under Modi’s Koot neethi—strategic, nationalistic wisdom—India has chosen quiet strength over Western-style triumphalism. BRICS does not gloat, threaten, or invade; it builds patiently. It collaborates. And it advances a philosophy that stands in stark contrast to the coercive tactics of old powers: Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Prayas. One Earth. One Family. One Future. The multipolar world is not merely a geopolitical arrangement. It is a civilizational correction. A resetting of global power that acknowledges the aspirations of nations long patronized or sidelined. As Western dominance wanes and BRICS rises, the message to the world is unmistakable: history will no longer be written by one voice. It will be written by many—India is among the strongest.
