Nehru gave away UNSC seat to China on platter: BJP

PTI, Sep 11, 2023, 8:14 PM IST

The BJP on Monday attacked the Congress, alleging that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had ”given away” the UN Security Council’s permanent seat to China ”on a platter”.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a renewed push for expansion of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and reforms in all global institutions to reflect the world’s ”new realities”, as the G20 Summit drew to a close with the US, Russia and France praising the meeting’s outcomes under Indian presidency.

”Today, while India, under the leadership of PM Modi is shaping the world, and the world is backing the country’s bid for a permanent UNSC seat, which Nehru gave away to China on a platter…The unpatriotic deeds of the Gandhi family haunt our history, to date,” the BJP said in a post on X.

The UNSC has five permanent members — the US, China, France, Britain and Russia.

Making a fresh pitch for expansion of the UNSC and reforms in global institutions, Modi had also said that in order to take the world towards a better future, it is necessary that the global systems are according to the present realities.

”Today, the United Nations Security Council is also an example of this. When the UN was established, the world was completely different from what it is today. At that time, there were 51 founding members in the UN. Today the number of countries included in the UN is around 200,” Modi had said.

”Despite this, the number of permanent members in the UNSC remains the same. The world has since changed a lot in every aspect. Be it transport, communication, health and education, every sector has been transformed. These new realities should reflect in our new global structure,” he had said.

A day after Prime Minister Modi’s renewed push for expansion of the UNSC, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday echoed similar views and called for reform of the powerful UN body to reflect contemporary realities.

Brazil is the next chair of the G20 bloc. The president also said that his country wants the equality issue to be the ”core issue” during its presidency.

On Sunday at a press briefing, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkiye would be ”proud” if a country like India becomes a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

At the same time, Erdogan had said all non-P5 members should have an opportunity to become members of the Security Council by rotation.

In a joint statement on Friday, US President Biden had lauded India’s G20 Presidency for further ”demonstrating” how the G20 as a forum is delivering important outcomes. Continuing to share the view that global governance must be more inclusive and representative, President Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UNSC with India as a permanent member, the joint statement said.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UNSC, saying it rightly deserved a place as a permanent member of the United Nations.