New Delhi: India on Thursday underscored its commitment to “shared interests” within the BRICS grouping but firmly ruled out de-dollarisation as part of its financial agenda, even as it issued a sharp warning to Pakistan against repeated threats and nuclear sabre-rattling.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, addressing the weekly press briefing, said New Delhi’s position on de-dollarisation remains unchanged despite Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s renewed push for a common BRICS trade currency. “Our position has already been made clear. De-dollarisation is not part of our financial agenda,” Jaiswal stated.
Lula has been a vocal proponent of creating an alternative BRICS currency to reduce dependency on the US dollar, saying Brazil “cannot depend” solely on it. However, India has reiterated its focus on using local currencies for cross-border payments rather than pursuing a shared trade currency.
The discussion comes amid rising trade tensions with the United States. Both India and Brazil have been hit with 50% tariffs the highest announced by US President Donald Trump. Trump has accused New Delhi of funding Moscow’s “war machine” by importing Russian oil, while accusing Brazil of political hostility towards former president Jair Bolsonaro.
In the same briefing, the MEA lashed out at Pakistan’s leadership for what it called “reckless, war-mongering, and hateful” rhetoric against India, warning Islamabad of “painful consequences” in case of any misadventure.
“It is the well-known modus operandi of the Pakistani leadership to whip up anti-India rhetoric time and again to hide their own failures,” Jaiswal said. He added that India “categorically rejects” Pakistan’s selective references to the recent award by the Court of Arbitration under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), calling it “without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and with no bearing on India’s rights of water usage.”
New Delhi has kept the IWT in abeyance following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which led to a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties. Pakistani leaders including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Army Chief Asim Munir — have since issued a string of threats, including nuclear war warnings and vows to destroy Indian dams.
The heated rhetoric comes in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, in which India struck multiple terror camps and air bases across the border, crippling key Pakistani military capabilities and repelling missile and drone strikes during a four-day exchange of hostilities.
While Pakistan has sought to frame India’s actions as aggression, New Delhi maintains its measures were a direct response to cross-border terrorism and repeated violations of its sovereignty.
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