With the 64th session of the UN General Assembly slated to be convened later this month, India is all set to renew its bid for permanent membership of the all-powerful Security Council.
The tone has already been set by Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardip Singh Puri by making a strong case for the country’s inclusion in the Security Council while addressing international forums. As the General Assembly meet comes closer, New Delhi will seek to bolster its campaign.
A senior Union Minister said in New Delhi today it makes no sense to conceive a world structure without India. He said, today there are 192 members of the UN which are being represented on the Security Council merely by less than 8 per cent of the total members.’ According to the Minister, India should have actually gone for the kill in 1997 when working groups of UN reforms had made far-reaching recommendations for strengthening the world body. “We really missed the bus in 1997, thanks to an uncertain domestic political situation,” he rued. Thereafter, so many countries ganged up to oppose the candidatures of G-4 countries-India, Germany, Brazil and Japan. But Indian officials say India’s legitimate claim can’t be ignored for long by the world community, taking into account the fact that it is a responsible nuclear power, has the world’ 12th largest economy, third largest armed force and is the largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping missions.
”There is a growing sense of frustration in the corridors of power in New Delhi over the attitude of the US on the proposed expansion of the Security Council.”
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will lead India’s charge at the UN since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be attending the meet this year. Dr. Singh would, however, be in the US around the same time for the G-20 Summit on global economic meltdown at Pittsburgh.
There is a growing sense of frustration in the corridors of power in New Delhi over the attitude of the US on the proposed expansion of the Security Council. In a sense, the US approach is being seen as supportive of the initiatives of the so-called ‘Coffee Club’, comprising countries like Pakistan, Italy, Argentina and Mexico, which have been opposing the expansion for obvious reasons. Pakistan would not like India to be there on the powerful body while Italy is opposed to Germany’s candidature and Argentina and Mexico are uncomfortable with Brazil’s bid.
India supports expansion of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent members’ categories. It is of the firm view that any expansion of the permanent members’ category should be based on agreed criteria, rather than be a pre-determined selection.
Britain, France and Russia fully support India’s admission to the council as a permanent member. China, despite reluctance to stronglyback New Delhi’s case, supports greater role for India at the UN but the US is turning out to be the biggest hurdle. While Washington appreciates India’s growing stature as a world power, it has so far refrained from supporting New Delhi’s candidature for a permanent seat on the Security Council.
