The author is visiting professor, international relations, Ashoka University. Views expressed are personal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa during the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 7, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

India's Global South ambition runs up against China's power - making coalition-building, not solo leadership, the more realistic path

How India can lead the Global South

Business Standard

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (left) speaking in New Delhi in November 1973. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is seated alongside (Photo: Russian Embassy in India)

As Moscow deepens ties with China and courts Pakistan, India must engage Russia with clear eyes and calibrated realism

Kanti Bajpai

Kanti Bajpai

Kanti Bajpai

How India can lead the Global South

India-Russia relations without illusions