India’s rise at the G20 summit as a world power was matched by its ascendancy in the region.

In the run-up to the Delhi summit, Prime Minister Modi emerged as the anchor of the ASEAN-India summit in Indonesia where he presented a framework of cooperation between India and ASEAN on issues such as connectivity, digital transformation, trade and economic partnership, collective fight against terrorism and terror funding and cyber disinformation.

Moreover, India defined the ASEAN stand on the Indo-Pacific and Prime Minister Modi emphasised that the code of conduct for the South China Sea should be effective and should take into account the interests of countries not involved in it. The Indian Prime Minister has shown an exceptional ability to go into the security concerns of India and actively lead strategic, diplomatic and political initiatives to do what was best for this country.

The role of India’s National Security Advisor in all of this stands out when one looks back on what his predecessors did in moments of national crisis like 26/11 and the radical onslaught of Pak ISI in Kashmir in the early Nineties.

Prime Minister Modi’s justification of friendship with the US is based not on any compulsion of humouring the latter as a superpower but on a conviction that India and the US as the two largest democracies with the proven credentials of their electoral systems, must lead the democratic world against the dictatorial regimes - amongst them the Marxist China and the ‘fundamentalist’ Pakistan - for the larger good of the world.

India under the Modi regime has been able to achieve convergence of thought with countries like the US, the UK, Japan, Australia and even Saudi Arabia. The announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor in the presence of representatives of the US, France, Germany, EU, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey, proved this.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the need for respecting the sovereignty of all nations implicitly conveying his disapproval of the CPEC under China’s Belt& Road Initiative(BRI) that cut through POK in the face of strong protests from India. India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor is also meant to curb the rise of Islamic Radicals with their faith-based terrorism, who were evidently receiving support from the Sino-Pak axis.

The recent large terrorist attack of Hamas on Israel is the outcome, among other things relating to the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, of a constant spread of radicalisation in the Muslim world. The G20 Presidency has helped India to isolate its adversaries and widen the area of support for its strategy of dealing with them.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views expressed are personal)