India showed leadership in strongest consensus, not loudest voice, says Rajnath Singh on BRICS Summit

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the success of the 18th BRICS Summit has indeed left an indelible mark on the international stage, adding that the New Delhi declaration signed was a testament to India’s growing global influence. The 18th BRICS Summit 2026 took place on September 12–13 at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi with a theme, ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’. The member states unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration. Taking to X, Rajnath Singh said, “The historic BRICS Summit has successfully concluded in New Delhi. Under the visionary leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi, India underlined Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability as its foremost priorities as BRICS Chair.” “Guided by these priorities, India has laid special emphasis on connecting BRICS cooperation directly with the common people. This inclusive and human-centric approach became the hallmark of BRICS Summit in New Delhi,” he said. Speaking about the signing of a landmark BRICS 2026 New Delhi Declaration, Singh called it a “big achievement” and said, “It is not just a document, it is a statement of India’s growing global influence under the leadership of PM Modi.” “India has put the Global South at the centre, not at the margins, championing a more inclusive, representative and balanced world order. Rooted in our civilisational ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, India has once again shown that leadership is not about having the loudest voice, but the strongest consensus. As India leads, the world listens,” he said. “I congratulate PM Modi for the super success of BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Its success has indeed left an indelible mark on the global stage,” the Defence Minister added. The BRICS nations adopted the ‘New Delhi Declaration’. The declaration commended India for hosting the Outreach/BRICS Plus Dialogue segment of the 18th BRICS Summit, asserting that India’s chairship has injected “new impetus” to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity. The leaders of member countries reaffirmed their commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus. BRICS countries reaching consensus on a Joint Statement on the very first day of the summit has been labelled as a “major diplomatic breakthrough” considering the sharply divergent geopolitical positions among various countries. The declaration also featured a strong condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack, and consensus was reached on adopting a zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism. The New Delhi Declaration highlighted that, building on two decades of BRICS, the member countries further commit themselves to strengthening cooperation in the expanded BRICS under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people cooperation, and to enhancing our strategic partnership for the benefit of our people through the promotion of peace, a more representative, fairer international order, a reinvigorated and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth. –IANS sd