Jaishankar calls on voters to elect ‘mature and strong’ govt. Explains why

While PM Modi is the face of the ruling NDA, the opposition INDIA bloc is yet to reveal its candidate for the top post.

The world is set to witness a “very, very stormy” churn, and, therefore, India must continue to have a “stable and mature” leadership, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar. (HT File Photo)

“I think that today, one of the biggest choices which the Indian voters have to make is in this situation, whom do you trust to lead the government?” Jaishankar told PTI in an exclusive interview.

The Lok Sabha polls are currently underway, and voting has been held for three out of seven phases. The BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is up against the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP won single-party majority in both 2014 and 2019 elections.

PM Modi, who is seeking a hattrick of wins to the top post, has repeatedly stressed in his speeches that the INDIA bloc, if elected to office, will have “a new Prime Minister" in each year of its five-year term.” The opposition alliance is yet to reveal its PM face, and there is a lack of consensus over who that leader will be.

Jaishankar, meanwhile, elaborated on the need for a “mature and stable” leadership.

“Multiple conflicts, tensions, and divides. With all these variables that I am putting to you, I am painting to you, actually, a very, very stormy international scene for the balance of the decade,” the ex-foreign secretary said.

“The combination of all of this today, poses a kind of a picture of great churn, and on top of it the competition is sharpening,” Jaishankar added.

To back his assertion, the External Affairs Minister cited the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas conflict, pirate attacks in the Arabian Sea and Red Sea, and China-Taiwan tensions.

The United States, however, is becoming “less and less dominant,” the BJP leader argued.

“The United States is still the premier power. But, for a variety of reasons, you can say, the next lot of powers are so much closer to the United States than they used to be. Also, the US itself has changed its posture vis-a-vis the world,” he stated.