'Carries forward Nehru's vision': Jairam Ramesh draws parallel with Bandung in expanded BRICS grouping

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday sought to draw a striking historical parallel between the ongoing 18th BRICS summit here and the landmark 1955 Bandung Conference.In an X post, Ramesh shared an excerpt from the newly adopted BRICS New Delhi Declaration to place the current gathering firmly in the lineage of Indiaâ€TMs first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other Afro-Asian leaders such as Egyptâ€TMs Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indonesiaâ€TMs Sukarno.He noted that the Bandung Conference had brought together Asian and African nations determined to chart an independent course outside the competing Western and Soviet blocs, giving birth to the "Non-Aligned Movement".He described todayâ€TMs expanded BRICS grouping as a high-tech, well-resourced and far more powerful evolution of that same cooperative vision of equality and mutual benefit.Paragraph 16 of the New Delhi Declaration, which Ramesh highlighted, states: “We recall the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, that proclaimed general principles, including equality, independence, non-intervention, and mutual benefit. We stress that the Bandung Spirit serves as a reference in the pursuit of a fairer, more inclusive, and representative multilateral system."The Congress leader also recalled Nehruâ€TMs personal jottings made on the afternoon of April 22, 1955, during the Bandung meeting. He pointed readers to a recent article by scholar Vineet Thakur that examines Nehruâ€TMs notes, doodles and reflections from that historic gathering.Ramesh closed his post with a playful cultural reference, quoting the old Bollywood classic song "Tu jahan jahan chalega mera saya saath hoga" from the suspense thriller "Mera Saaya" (1966), as a light-hearted nod to the enduring presence of the Bandung spirit in contemporary multilateral diplomacy.The comparison underscores the Congress leaderâ€TMs view that BRICS continues the unfinished project of creating a more equitable global order, one first articulated by newly independent nations seven decades ago. By linking the New Delhi declaration to Nehruâ€TMs notes and the Bandung principles, Ramesh sought to frame the current summit not merely as a meeting of emerging economies but as the latest chapter in a long struggle for a fairer international system.