India wants to be a great power. It has over a billion citizens, nuclear weapons, a space program, a blue-water navy, an army of software engineers, diplomats stationed all over the world, and one of the largest economies on Earth. India rhetorically pledges to reemerge as Vishwaguru (teacher of the world), steward of the Global South, or both. At the September 20, 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, which Chinese President Xi attended after almost seven years away from Indian diaspora audiences, India looked very ascendant and on display as a diplomatic epicenter.
