Modi calls for India’s inclusion
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday made a strong case for India's inclusion as a permanent member of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and asked how long will his country be "kept out of the decision-making structures" of the global body.
Addressing the virtual 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he said every Indian aspires for India's expanded role in a reformed and expanded UN.
"Today, the people of India are concerned whether this reform process will ever reach its logical conclusion. For how long will India be kept out of the decision-making structures of the United Nations?" Modi said.
"How long would a country have to wait particularly when the transformational changes happening in that country affect a large part of the world?" he said in his nearly 22-minute speech.
He said "reform in the responses, processes and in the very character of the UN is the need of the hour."
Modi pointed out that India is a country "which has hundreds of languages, hundreds of dialects, many sects and many ideologies. This is a country, which was a leading global economy for centuries and also one which has endured hundreds of years of foreign rule."
The PM recalled India's contributions to about 50 UN peace missions over the decades and said the country has accorded priority to the welfare of the entire world.
"India has always given priority to the welfare of the whole world. India is the country, which sent its brave soldiers to about 50 peacekeeping missions the world over to keep the peace. India is that country which, in the course of maintaining peace, has lost the maximum number of its brave soldiers," he said.
Modi said the UN need to change its reactions, arrangements and appearance to stay relevant.
"Today we are in a different era all together... There is a big question in front of the whole world community that whether the institution that was formed under the circumstances of that time is still relevant today," Modi said in his speech.
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