Seeking a bigger and more powerful role for India in the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wondered for how long would be the country kept out of the important decision making processes of the world body.
Speaking virtually at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Mr Modi pushed for more reformed in the United Nations. “For how long will India, the world’s largest democracy and home to 1.3 billion people, be kept of the decision making structures of the United Nations? These reforms are the need of the hour,’’ he asserted in the eagerly anticipatory speech.
Mr Modi’s speech accentuated his unusual aggressive tone at the world body. He emphasized that a lot had changed sinced 1945, when the United Nations came into existence, and there were new challenges to deal with. “Therefore,’’ he said, “the international community today is faced with a very important question: Whether the character of the institution, constituted in the prevailing circumstances of 1945, is relevant even today? Reforms in the character of the UN is the need of the hour. The people of India have been waiting for a long time for the completion of the reforms. Today, they are concerned whether this reform process will ever reach its logical conclusion. After all, India is the world’s largest democracy with over 18 percent global population.”
Mr Modi also questioned the UN’s stand and effectiveness in dealing with Covid 19.“Over the last eight to nine months, the whole world has been battling the pandemic. Where is the United Nations in this joint fight against coronavirus? Has it come out with an effective response befitting a world body,’’ he inquired.
The Prime Minister’s comments assume significance as in January 2021 India will take the non-permanent member seat at the United Nations Security Council, for a period of two years.
