Till date, the BJP governments formed in our country have not only given us the best Prime Ministers, but BJP has also given India the best foreign ministers. These foreign ministers are, respectively, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sushma Swaraj and the current Modi government’s S. Jaishankar; all three Foreign Ministers in their tenure have excelled at the global fora and showcased India’s greatness and India’s power. Our current foreign minister S. Jaishankar has also earned awe in foreign countries. He has spoken out against wrongdoings without mincing words and any fear of developed or big countries.
A similar thing happened a few days ago in Abu Dhabi, in the inauguration of the ‘India Global Forum UAE Summit’ addressing climate change S.Jaishankar took a dig at the developed countries. In this summit, Jaishankar first talked about the fact that the countries actually responsible for climate change and global warming are delaying taking action as soon as possible regarding addressing the issue of the rising temperature of the earth. And later, he pointed the finger at developed countries, saying that these countries have captured their hold on the carbon space and are only making promises that they will help other countries. These countries come to the COP conferences every year with some new logic and get back to their work with some excuse again with the recommitment to fulfil their goals and targets in future.
At the forum in Abu Dhabi, Jaishankar also said that developed countries are not at all serious about their promises regarding climate change. Rather, as the problems of climate change became more severe, those countries rejected their promises and engaged the world in new logic and theories. I don’t remember the foreign ministers of any previous governments taking a swipe at the world’s major countries with such force. But this foreign minister of ‘New India’ did not worry about anyone and exposed the dishonesty of big countries.
From this word of dishonesty, I can relate to S.Jaishankar’s Abu Dhabi speech that, now, the time has come; some countries honestly have to accept and identify the countries that are majorly responsible for climate change and global warming. Because so far, the developed countries have only given us non-productive debates, which have only complexed the matter, increasing the world’s confusion. Apart from this, the world has not found any solution to climate change. These countries have imposed a carbon emission cap on some small or developing countries every few years. The countries that contribute less than ten per cent of the world’s carbon emissions have to come forward and put their true carbon emissions figures before the world.
Hearing these words of Jaishankar, big countries around the world were stunned. They never imagined that the foreign minister of a developing country like India would expose the big carbon-emitting countries with such clarity and straightforwardness. However, after this speech of Jaishankar, not a single country that roams with the claim and responsibility of the entire globe opposed Jaishankar’s speech or gave any reaction to it. Because S.Jaishankar’s words are 100% true.
However, I am reminded of an earlier article in this same column, when we also talked here about the inaction of significant countries on climate change and some useless global summits. Here in ‘Ecowatch’, we have written that some global summits for climate change are nothing more than fashion parades or academic discussions. These summits that have been going on for several years have not resulted in any concrete global regulations or any experiments to reduce carbon emissions. However, in this same column, we have also discussed that India will become the global leader in the field of climate action in the coming time. Because, on the one hand, big countries have been limited to making promises only, developing countries like India have started taking concrete steps in that direction and have also initiated ground-level work in the country by introducing several policies and framework.
Even here, we have discussed that climate change is not a topic for summits or academics only. A serious matter like climate change needs the participation of ordinary people. And we have been doing the same for the last four-five years under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Our Prime Minister has taken the G20 summit to be held next year as an opportunity for climate action, through which the Prime Minister will reach every village of the country with the talk of climate action and ‘Mission Life’ and simultaneously prepare 130 crore people for climate action.
The one thing that I observed when S.Jaishankar was speaking in Abu Dhabi was the magnitude of his confidence. Because when talking about climate change, it wasn’t just his words, but his incredible awareness and understanding of India’s roadmap for climate action and the transformation India will undergo in the future. That is why the dreams that India will realize in the future were also ringing in his words.
As an avid environment lover, I was very impressed by the speech of S. Jaishankar in Abu Dhabi. After all, now the time has come for someone to take responsibility for climate change. If the responsible countries misguide others, they will have to be shown the mirror, and they need to be identified for causing the problem of global warming. So that there is no more misunderstanding in the world and the world can take timely steps in the right direction of climate action.
