Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday drew a striking historical parallel between the ongoing 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi and the landmark 1955 Bandung Conference, arguing that the expanded grouping carries forward the multilateral vision first articulated by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other Afro-Asian leaders seven decades ago.

What Ramesh Said on X

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ramesh shared an excerpt from the newly adopted BRICS New Delhi Declaration to place the current gathering firmly in the lineage of Nehru, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Indonesia's Sukarno. He described today's expanded BRICS as a 'high-tech, well-resourced and far more powerful evolution' of the cooperative vision of equality and mutual benefit that the Bandung meeting had seeded.

Ramesh specifically highlighted Paragraph 16 of the New Delhi Declaration, which states: 'We recall the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, that proclaimed general principles, including equality, independence, non-intervention, and mutual benefit. We stress that the Bandung Spirit serves as a reference in the pursuit of a fairer, more inclusive, and representative multilateral system.'

The Bandung Connection

The 1955 Bandung Conference brought together Asian and African nations determined to chart an independent course outside the competing Western and Soviet blocs, laying the intellectual groundwork for the Non-Aligned Movement. By invoking that gathering, Ramesh sought to frame the current summit not merely as a meeting of emerging economies but as the latest chapter in a long struggle for a fairer international system.

The Congress leader also recalled Nehru's personal jottings made on the afternoon of 22 April 1955 during the Bandung proceedings, directing readers to a recent article by scholar Vineet Thakur that examines Nehru's notes, doodles, and reflections from the historic gathering. This comes amid broader efforts by Indian political figures across the spectrum to claim ownership of the country's non-alignment legacy.

A Bollywood Flourish

Ramesh closed his post with a playful cultural reference, quoting the classic Bollywood song 'Tu jahan jahan chalega mera saya saath hoga' from the 1966 suspense thriller Mera Saaya, as a light-hearted nod to what he described as the enduring presence of the Bandung spirit in contemporary multilateral diplomacy.

Why It Matters

The comparison underscores the Congress leader's broader political argument: that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's engagement with BRICS, however welcome, builds on foundations laid by Nehru-era foreign policy rather than departing from it. Notably, the BJP has historically distanced itself from the Nehruvian non-alignment framework, preferring a 'multi-alignment' framing under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ramesh's invocation of Bandung is therefore as much a claim on intellectual lineage as it is a commentary on current diplomacy.

With the BRICS grouping now expanded beyond its original five members, the question of whether the bloc can deliver on the Bandung promise of a more equitable global order — or whether it remains a forum of convenience among disparate powers — will likely shape both diplomatic and domestic political debate in the months ahead.