Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong support for Israel and his country’s abstention from a United Nations resolution for a Gaza ceasefire will “clearly not score diplomatic points” for New Delhi as it aims to outmanoeuvre Beijing to become the leader of the Global South, analysts have said.
However, India’s Global South leadership will not be determined by its position on one issue, as analysts argued that “pragmatic” developing countries care more about what India has to offer in terms of boosting their interests.
Daniel Markey, senior South Asia adviser at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), said India would clearly “not score diplomatic points with the Global South by pursuing closer ties with Israel at the expense of the Palestinians”.
“However, India’s Global South leadership has never been the result of its stance on that one issue,” he said. “New Delhi – correctly, in my view – appreciates that the Global South is an extremely diverse set of nations and that there will be other issues on which to demonstrate India’s leadership.”
When India assumed the year-long G20 presidency beginning last December, Modi set out visions including being a champion of the Global South, a term used to refer to developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
At international forums and United Nations meetings and conferences, India had raised a range of issues concerning the Global South.
During the G20 summit in September, India persuaded the United States and Europe to soften a statement on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine so that the forum could focus on the concerns of poorer countries such as global debt and climate financing.
At the meeting, India also played a pivotal role in admitting the African Union as a permanent member of the G20.Earlier this year, India brought together leaders of some 100 developing countries at the Voice of Global South Summit, signalling its desire to foster solidarity among these nations and consolidate its leadership in the Global South.
Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, many Global South countries have expressed growing anger at Western countries, most notably the US, for their strong support of Israel even as Palestinian casualties surged.
In contrast, Modi conveyed that the “people of India stand in solidarity with Israel” while abstaining from a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian truce and ceasefire in Gaza. At a Brics virtual meeting last month, India did not hold Israel accountable for Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, which by then had surpassed 11,000.
Rafiq Dossani, director of the US-based RAND Centre for Asia-Pacific Policy, said Gaza was not a top issue of concern for countries in the Global South as the ongoing war “is not viewed as an existential or ideological threat” to most of them.
“I would imagine that a certain level of pragmatism will prevail,” Dossani said, noting that Global South countries would be more interested in what India or China – the other contender for Global South leadership – can offer.
