External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday rejected the idea that countries must choose between BRICS and the United Nations, saying the debate itself rests on a "false choice" and that the smaller grouping is meant to reinforce, not replace, the global multilateral system.
"The UN is the UN. It may have many shortcomings. It also has many achievements, and obviously, when you want to reform it, when you want to change it, it's natural to focus on the shortcomings. But I don't think that should lead us to be dismissive of the UN," he said while speaking at a session titled "Ruptures & Ramparts: Building Bridges for a Changing World."
The event was organised on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly by the Observer Research Foundation, Reliance Foundation, UN in India and the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in New York. It brought together foreign ministers and policy leaders from across the Global South, including Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith, Suriname's Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Cooperation Melvin Bouva, Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and East-West Center President and Chief Executive Celeste Connors. The discussion was moderated by ORF president Samir Saran.
Jaishankar said the UN remains indispensable despite its flaws. "At the end of the day, if there wasn't a UN, we'd all be sitting here trying to invent one," he said, underscoring that the organisation has served the world in "very significant ways." His remarks were a pointed reminder that criticism of the UN's shortcomings does not amount to rejection of the institution itself.
He framed BRICS and similar groupings as coalitions of countries that come together because they share a certain outlook, interest or perspective. Such platforms, he said, are not substitutes for the UN but expressions of a changing world order in which countries seek more flexible spaces to advance common priorities.
Referring to the BRICS Leaders' Summit hosted by India on September 12-13, Jaishankar said one of the grouping's central principles is that "the UN is central to the international system." He added: "So it's not BRICS or the UN. The BRICS is supportive of the UN, and a large part of the BRICS would like to reform the UN, some more than others."
The minister said the issues BRICS has highlighted — resilience, sustainability, innovation and cooperation — are also the defining issues of the day for the UN. "They are equally issues for the United Nations," he said, suggesting that the agenda of the bloc and that of the global body are more aligned than often portrayed.
Jaishankar also argued that BRICS has helped generate pressure for change from below. "When we sit here at the high-level week in New York, a few kilometres away from the UN headquarters, I would look at it like what did the BRICS do to strengthen the UN and strengthen the cause of UN reform. I think it nudged it a little bit stronger. It indicated a certain pressure from bottom up," he said.
His comments come at a time when BRICS has expanded significantly and continues to draw scrutiny from Western commentators and policymakers. Without naming any publication, Jaishankar said the grouping often attracts "very interesting press," adding that mainstream coverage tends to dismiss BRICS until it meets, at which point it becomes a source of heightened attention.
He said the real test of the bloc came with its expansion beyond the original five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. "We doubled our numbers, but believe me, we could have easily gone up four or five times. There was a huge demand from countries," he said, attributing that interest to BRICS offering a platform for "alternative thinking."
Jaishankar also described BRICS as a "non-Western platform," while noting that its members are not uniform in history, geography or political experience. The bloc now spans multiple continents and includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The minister's remarks were aimed at reinforcing India's long-standing position that reform of global governance institutions should be pursued through engagement rather than rejection. By placing BRICS and the UN in the same frame, he argued that emerging coalitions can create momentum for change while still relying on the legitimacy and centrality of the multilateral system. In that sense, his message in New York was less about rivalry than recalibration: the world, he suggested, needs both the UN's universal reach and the pressure from newer groupings to make it work better.