Narendra Modi entered the gates of the United Nations in America as the prime minister of a nation in Asia, but he leaves the building having thrown down the gauntlet to the world. During his speech at the UN, he pushed for India becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and also slapped the current members in the face by telling them that the UNSC operated in the previous century and had not geared themselves to combat the new enemies like terrorism.
The UNSC is in charge of peacekeeping across the world and making changes to the UN Charter. They have five permanent members “ China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States “ and 10 member countries elected on two year terms. India is part of the G4, a group that has Germany, Brazil and Japan, nations that back each other’s bids for a permanent seat.
India is the largest democracy in the world, a nation of over 1.2 billion people, that also has a large diaspora based across the world with a decent chunk of those in three of the five permanent member countries. Surely it deserves a seat on the UNSC by virtue of being a country that is emerging as a leading economy, that is one of the big players on the global trade map and also one of the big brothers in Asia.
India can bring more than just economic value to the table. It can also be the centre in Asia to combat terrorism. There is a lot at play here and Modi may have just hit the nail on the head.
