Why S Jaishankar Said "Bali Is Bali, Delhi Is Delhi" On G20's Ukraine Text

The text of G20 leaders declaration on Ukraine conflict is a "convergent consensus" rather than a "divisive consensus" and it could show a path to resolution of the crisis, official sources said on Sunday, a day after India pulled of a breakthrough on the contentious issue.

It was a combination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee and magic, the sources said while referring to total unanimity among the member nation's on the entire New Delhi G20 Leaders' Declaration.

India managed to hammer out the unexpected consensus among the G20 countries on the contentious Ukraine conflict through a series of hectic negotiations with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia playing a leading role in reaching the agreement on the declaration.

It is important to look at the nature of the consensus with the document as the declaration actually reflects "47 sub-consensus" in a range of issues, the sources said.

Explaining it, they said the declaration has around 10 broad themes and 37 sub-heads and all the countries agreed on all of them.

Overall, the outcome at the G20 summit demonstrated India and its leadership as a "junction box of democratic values", the sources said.

The paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict in the New Delhi declaration must not be looked at from the perspective of last year's Bali declaration, they said.

"It is a convergent consensus rather than a divisive consensus," said one of the sources, noting that the approach that featured in the declaration reflected a "stable" framework to deal with the crisis while divisive consensus is always "fragile".

"The story of the consensus is a remarkable one and the overall approach in the document reflected a larger context. The paragraphs relating to the Ukraine conflict are much more than transactional. That is why the external affairs minister said Bali is Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi," the source said.

Looking at the New Delhi declaration in the context of the G20 Bali declaration is a very transactional way of assessing the crisis, the sources said.

The declaration issued at the G20's Bali summit last November had deplored in the strongest terms the Russian aggression against Ukraine while most members strongly condemned the war. The New Delhi declaration does not feature these formulations.

"With regard to the comparison with the Bali Declaration, I would only say Bali was Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi. I mean, Bali was a year ago," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a media briefing on Saturday.

"The situation was different. Many things have happened since then. And in fact If you see in the geo-political segment of the leader's declaration, there are, in total, eight paragraphs, seven of which actually focus on the Ukraine issue," he said.

"I think one should not have a theological view of this. I think the New Delhi Declaration responds to the situation and concerns as it is today, just as the Bali Declaration did in a situation which was there a year ago." The New Delhi G20 Declaration refers only to the "war in Ukraine" and noted with "deep concern the immense human suffering and the adverse impact of wars and conflicts around the world." Asked whether China created problems for the negotiators, the sources indicated that it was not so and said India followed an inclusive approach that focused on taking along everyone.

On whether any European member nation raised the issue of India not inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the summit, the sources said "no".

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