‘No room for preachers’: Jaishankar slams European nations, says India wants partners who walk their talk

At the Arctic Circle India Forum 2025, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar offered a blunt critique of Western hypocrisy, signaling a shift in India’s foreign policy tone. With sharp words aimed particularly at parts of Europe, Jaishankar underlined that India seeks equal partners — not moral lectures — from countries grappling with their own inconsistencies. His remarks came amid a larger reflection on global multipolarity, strategic contestation, and India’s expanding footprint from the Antarctic to the Arctic.

Addressing a global audience in Delhi, Jaishankar declared, “When we look at the world, we look for partners, we don't look for preachers. Particularly, preachers who don't practice at home what they preach abroad. Some of Europe is still struggling with that problem.” He added, “Europe has entered a certain zone of reality check. Whether they are able to step up or not is something we will have to see.”

Emphasising India's growing geopolitical presence, Jaishankar said, “We have now reached a size and a stage where almost anything consequential that happens in any corner of the world, matters to us.” He noted that while the United States has become more self-reliant, Europe is “under pressure to change” and has yet to fully absorb the dynamics of a multipolar world.

“The US has dramatically changed positions. The Chinese are doing what they were doing,” he remarked. “We are going to see an arena of contestation which is not going to be easy to recall... We are looking at a much more contested world, much sharper competition.”

On India’s polar ambitions, Jaishankar spotlighted four decades of Antarctic involvement and a growing Arctic presence. “We’ve had a growing involvement with the Arctic... We have agreements with KSAT on Svalbard, which is relevant to our space. As the country with the most young people on this planet, what happens in the Arctic is of extreme importance to us,” he said.

Jaishankar also reiterated India’s strategic posture toward major powers. “There's a Russia realism that we have advocated... I am an advocate of Russia realism and I am also an advocate of America realism. I think the best way to engage today's America is also through finding mutuality of interest rather than putting ideological differences upfront.”

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Chairman of the Arctic Circle and former Icelandic President, echoed Jaishankar’s sentiment on Arctic engagement. “India’s economic future will depend more and more on access to resources in the Arctic,” he said, calling for Indian businesses to recognize the stakes as new power dynamics emerge in the polar region.