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In an interview with India Today during the eighteenth BRICS summit in New Delhi, former Oxford Union chief of staff Viraansh Bhanushali shared perspectives on the evolving role of the BRICS bloc and India's position in global geopolitics. Discussing the summit's theme of resilience and sustainability amidst global tensions, Bhanushali stated that institutions rooted in Western dominance have failed the Global South, especially regarding the weaponization of the US dollar. He emphasized that "BRICS can be its own thing" and urged member nations to construct alternative institutional mechanisms for trade, technology sharing, and mobility rather than replicating Western models like the G7 or G20. On India-China relations and President Xi Jinping's visit to India, Bhanushali noted that mutual economic interdependence serves as a strategic factor, asserting that "Xi needs Modi more than Modi needs Xi at this point." He concluded by noting that rising global scrutiny of India reflects its growing international economic and geopolitical stature.
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00:00Hello and welcome. We are, in fact, speaking at a time when India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit
00:08for the fourth time, that is, in this very country. And all the leaders from across the world,
00:1411 member nations that we know, they're all here in the national capital as we speak.
00:20Now, when we're speaking of the BRICS, we have at length discussed what the BRICS means for the
00:25world order, what all of the bilaterals that have been taking place on the sidelines means for India.
00:31But let's also bring in a fresh perspective to this conversation, a voice of the youth,
00:37what indeed looks like for the BRICS and the country when we speak of our relations with India,
00:46with China and each of these other nations, Iran for that matter, all of these relations from a
00:51different perspective, as I'm joined by Viranj Bhanushali, the former chief of staff at the
00:58Oxford Union, a young voice on global affairs. Viranj, welcome to India today and thank you for
01:04giving us your time.
01:05Thank you so much for having me. It's been an absolutely hectic week, but it's my absolute
01:11pleasure to be here.
01:12I'm sure it is a packed week for all of us here as we speak. You know, to begin with,
01:17when we're speaking of the BRICS Summit 2026, the theme that we look at is resilience, building
01:25resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability. Now, what do you make of this
01:31theme, especially at a time when we are looking at a geopolitical landscape which is extremely
01:37marred with conflicts, the recent one being the escalations in West Asia? Do you see this
01:42as just another idea being projected or perhaps the BRICS actually working towards a multipolar
01:50world order that could be the reality going forward?
01:54No, absolutely. I think it's the need of the hour more than anything else. What you've seen
01:59in West Asia is not necessarily just the culmination of what's happened over the last year or two.
02:04It's a culmination of what's happening in Cascade since approximately, I would say,
02:08COVID ended really. In that time in which institutions that were based on trust,
02:12institutions that were based on this collective globalization idea have collectively failed,
02:18especially the global south. A good chunk of the reason why the US dollar is agreed to be the
02:22world's reserve currency is based on trust and neutrality. Now, tomorrow morning, when the US
02:28weaponizes the same dollar, what happens? Countries that are at the forefront and bear the brunt of
02:32the weaponization obviously will have to build resistance measures. You can obviously look at,
02:37you know, Russia and China, two of the countries which are most worried about this,
02:40us less so comparatively, but then we also have our concerns with the dollarized system.
02:44Therefore, that's just one example of the nature of resilience that must be built across the global
02:49south to ensure that the conquest of tyrants somewhere in the West doesn't necessarily make
02:54our lives effectively a living hell. You know, Viranj, when we're speaking of the BRICS,
03:00and as you say, a lot of it has to do with how the institutional perspective has been for so
03:05long,
03:05the West is watching very closely as India hosts this very edition of the BRICS. Now,
03:12what the West is looking at here is, is the BRICS then providing an architecture and from an
03:19institutional perspective speaking, a global architecture? Is it reshaping? Does it have the
03:25potential to reshape the world order as we have been discussing that? Or is it, as I just mentioned,
03:32it's more of a diplomatic negotiating platform that we speak about, but there is nothing much
03:38that's being done policy-wise. At the end of the day, we're talking about a power block which does
03:42account for more than 40% of the GDP that is going by the PPP metric here. And the population
03:49that it
03:50accounts for is also more than almost roughly around 50%. It's somewhere around 49% as we speak.
03:57So, what exactly are we looking at when we speak of a BRICS and what it holds for the future?
04:04So, I mean, in a sense that BRICS was always viewed, I think, historically even as an economic term,
04:09right? But so was the G7. Fundamentally, the G7 is not some body that has an extra sort of
04:15territorial purpose outside of just a meeting of diplomats. But look at the influence the G7
04:19wields. Even though they're no longer the largest seven economies in the world,
04:22that grouping controls a lot of what the global base minimum on custom and treaties is. So,
04:29when it comes to what BRICS should do, I think there's a lot of gaps fundamentally left by the
04:33global sort of legacy order that can very easily be filled by BRICS. The Americans have not nominated
04:38any judges to the WTO, and therefore, it's been kneecapped. An organization based on increasing
04:43world trade has effectively been sort of stopped in its footsteps in doing one of its fundamental goals
04:49by the country that created it. At that point in time, how is it any longer some sort of neutral
04:55arbiter in sort of the pursuit of global free trade? BRICS that has trillions of dollars in
05:01trade amongst each other probably needs a mechanism similar to that, for example, in ensuring that
05:06it can actually provide the trust, clarity, and the right interests that are needed in order to
05:10ensure the global south grows equitably. And who better to do it than the BRICS nations,
05:14I think. Along with that, there's a further set of ideas that, you know, BRICS obviously has to
05:20explore, especially when it comes to the young, when it comes to mobility, when it comes to
05:23information transfer, transfer of technology. At this point in time, we must not necessarily
05:28ape the West and become the next G20 or G7. BRICS can be its own thing. It must go further.
05:34It must
05:35cater to the needs of what the global south needs, right? And we've seen this with the expansion.
05:39We've seen this with the fact that a lot of, well, a good chunk of BRICS members are directly or
05:44indirectly involved in conflicts, either directly perpetrated or supported by the West. At that
05:49point in time, the global south must stand up for each other. And that's what I think the fundamental
05:53purpose of BRICS has to be, restore trust in an equitable globalized order where countries speak
05:58with each other and not down sort of to inferior former colonies. I think when I speak of fresh
06:04perspectives, this is perhaps one of the, you perhaps one of the first ones to bring to highlight
06:09that BRICS could be its own thing. And let's not compare it with the existing blocks. I mean that
06:16BRICS too has been existing for quite some time now, but there has always been a comparison
06:22amongst the G20, the G7 and the quad and the BRICS at the same time. But then,
06:28if it's actually speaking of a multipolar world, then why not? All of these power blocks, you know,
06:35coexist together. That definitely comes in to be a very crucial point. You know,
06:39another conversation that comes up when we speak of the BRICS nation at the end of the day,
06:43and here's where India's role also comes in. While India has been quite a vocal representative for the
06:50global south in the latest years, what also comes to one's notice, there are concerns,
06:56there are speculations and conversations about whether BRICS is more of a congregation of nations
07:04that are unequal amongst themselves, especially if you're talking of the economic development. Now,
07:10India definitely is a fast developing economy, but then we have the likes of China and Russia.
07:15So then, where does it put India? At a time when we're also talking of putting end to all the
07:24wars
07:24across the world, there's a lot of conversations that also seem like contradicting each other in terms
07:31of stance that we're speaking about here. So, where does India place itself and does this actually further
07:38India's interest when we speak of the BRICS and the relations each of the nations share with each other?
07:46I mean, not again to make a like-for-like comparison, but look at any multinational grouping.
07:50You know, it's not necessary that all countries are equal. Look at the G7. Do you think the French
07:54economy and the US economy necessarily are at parity? I would hardly say so. But the French and the
08:00Americans disagree all the way from the times of Charles de Gaulle, where the French refused to send
08:04soldiers into NATO headquarters, right? At that point in time, the learning perhaps to be sort of somewhere
08:10taken from there is there can be disputes that are into our group, but that doesn't necessarily
08:15diminish the value that the bloc itself holds. Therefore, India and China, we have our disputes.
08:20We have our disputes at the border that, you know, unfortunately are aggravated by the Chinese,
08:25especially post-Galwan. But at that point in time, you know, we forget this. We very often complain
08:30about the trade deficit that exists between China and India, in the sense that India is just buying
08:35up sort of all Chinese goods without exporting much. But at that same time, look at the extent of
08:40the Chinese market that you control. That at some point, when your deficit is large, it also means
08:45a lot of their money is coming from you. At that point of interdependence, when you become too large
08:50an economy to mess with, right, you will automatically see a detente on that matter. That is what your
08:55perspective is, right? Once the Soviets grew, the Chinese and the Soviets and the Sino-Soviet split
08:59literally fought a border war as well over, I believe it was Manchuria. But at that point in time,
09:05you know, when Mao sort of messed up with his great leap forward, and the Russian and the Soviet economies
09:10grew, the Chinese took a backseat until, you know, they under danger of being and biding their time
09:15and hiding their strength. At that same point in time, we have these large historical lessons that we can
09:19learn from. The point is, the BRICS is, I believe, in its colloquial sense, two years younger than I am.
09:26And like myself, I would say, it has the benefit of learning both from the successes, but especially
09:30the failures of other multilateral organizations. So what India's role or what BRICS is for India is
09:36fundamentally one of one more forum, where it plays an important role, where it has a purpose, where it
09:42should remain sort of within the remit of its own foreign policy, where its priorities are, you know,
09:47the development of our country and the global south at large, because that's how we all grow together,
09:52right, the sharing of technology. One very simple example, a lot of countries and a lot of think
09:56tanks will criticize us, even though, let's say, we're the fourth largest economy now, and nominally,
10:01per capita, we are, you know, far below that on the ranking. My point is, that tomorrow morning,
10:06if China and India had the per capita incomes and consumptions of the US, global warming would go
10:10up by four degrees centigrade. And your world will become inhabitable. So if you want the level of
10:16prosperity that the West has had for decades to come to the global south, the global south has to
10:19come up with solutions that are meant for itself, everything from energy to healthcare, to how it
10:24handles political rights. So the idea is, it's for us to define, because it is sort of somewhere our
10:31future and our destiny that's at stake here, right. And the less we try and make an equivalence in
10:38light with what the West has done, and more sort of focus on understanding what they got wrong,
10:42and make sure we don't get the same things wrong, the better it is for us.
10:45So we make the West and the power blocks that the West is a part of our learning experience,
10:53and actually improve on that. That's the idea here. I think that's extremely important to note
10:59what you have indeed highlighted. You know, speaking of China, and today, there's a very crucial
11:06bilateral meeting between India and China. And in the recent years, we've seen a lot,
11:12especially in the last 10 years, of course, India and China has had a complicated ups and down
11:17relationship over decades, to speak. But just in the last 10 years, we've seen a Galwan clash take
11:22place in 2020 post that this would be the first time that President Xi Jinping is in fact making a
11:28trip
11:28to India. And he's arrived as we speak. But if you had to look at the bilateral, what as a
11:35young
11:35member of of not just representing India, but at this given point, also a voice in global politics,
11:43how are you looking at this bilateral meeting? Because, of course, there is the West, which has
11:47its eyes set on this bilateral meeting. But at the same time, we have seen there's a process of
11:53disengagement that's been initiated in the previous bilateral that's taken place on the
11:58sidelines of the SCO summit last year. But at the same time, there are still several complications
12:02that we're speaking of. There's a trade deficit, which favors Beijing. There's, of course, the
12:07border security, the disengagement process. While that's in process, there's also a lot of
12:13conversation and speculation and, you know, contradiction about the LAC that still continues to remain
12:20as of today. So all of this, keeping all of this in mind, the expectations from a bilateral meeting
12:27between these two, are you expecting any, you know, tangible solutions to come up in terms of
12:33conversations between the two leaders? Well, of course, see, I mean, if when you have sort of two
12:38heads of government, and I believe she's also the head of state, correct me if I'm wrong, meet,
12:44there's going to be consequences that come out of it directly or indirectly. Even nothing coming out of
12:47it is a consequence if you think about it, right? And therefore, see, I think when it comes to the
12:52LAC, when it comes to a border fundamentally defined by patrolling points, and, you know,
12:56unlike, you know, our fenced borders on the western and southern frontiers with Bangladesh,
13:00for example, you're going to have disputes. The army has managed, obviously, a great sort of
13:05detourn system. Of course, there's things we can do better there as well. But the idea is,
13:09we somewhere have had to, in a very sort of real politic, pragmatic way, somewhere de-link the
13:14border and the trade issues, right? In that sense, when we talk about this massive trade deficit in
13:18favour of China, I must again remind you that what it also means is a good chunk of the Chinese
13:22market
13:22is more dependent on the Indian economy consuming its goods than the Indian economy is dependent on
13:27the Chinese market consuming its goods. But that too is a strength, because the Chinese don't want
13:30to lose a four or $500 billion market as well, right? Now, when it comes to I think what I
13:34think
13:34should be discussed, etc, I think there's things that are more pragmatic on trade block perspective,
13:39both countries can learn from each other. At that point in time, you know, obviously, we have
13:44strategic, I would not say enmity with the Chinese necessarily, but we have at least frosty relations
13:49given their relations with other countries. And by extension, I think first and foremost,
13:53those should be brought up and dealt with. But when it comes to what we can do on trade,
13:57listen, I think both countries have passively agreed that we have our disputes on the border.
14:01Our dispute is never one sided, right? The Chinese do dispute their lines.
14:04However, why are they trading with us? We know we very often complain about this idea that
14:10we trade with the Chinese and yet, you know, our soldiers die at Gabon. At that point, the Chinese
14:14also trade with us, right? Which doesn't justify any of those things, obviously. But the point is,
14:18there is this mutual understanding that both countries have a lot to benefit from each other's
14:22markets. Open those up, create safeguards for your own economies, obviously, learn your tech,
14:28understand how the Chinese necessarily created their entire open-weight model ecosystem,
14:33how they're dealing with fabs. At this point in time, you know, with the Dholera fab coming up by
14:38Tata, for example, you're about to become a semiconductor and derivatives manufacturing
14:42superpower effectively. The Chinese are compute starved. You are now an opportunity for them.
14:47If she has made the trip to New Delhi, it means I think she needs Modi more than Modi needs
14:54she at this point.
14:55She needs Modi more than Modi needs she. I think that's quite a highlight, quite a point that you
15:02bring about. I will, in fact, come down to my last question to you, Varansh, which is with regards to,
15:09you know, you've been a part of a lot of dialogues and conversations across global platforms.
15:16How is it that the world looks at India from, and I want this from a perspective of a young
15:24voice who has, you know, been a part of these rooms, been a part of these conversations.
15:29How much of that outlook, that perspective towards India has changed? Because India now,
15:36for the last couple of years, has come out to be extremely vocal about the need for all wars to
15:42end.
15:42Even lately, we had heard the prime minister say the same at the SEO summit and across his
15:48bilaterals with all the leaders that are involved, that have their nations involved in some war or the
15:52other. Plus, on the other side, we're also talking of an emerging global south as bringing in a major
16:00shift to the world power that's already existing and has been for far too long dominated by the West.
16:05So, in all of these contexts, how is it that the world views India today?
16:11I think the world has a rather contrarian view sometimes, Varun. It is, at the same time,
16:17very appreciative of the idea that all of all India has managed to achieve, I believe, in the last
16:22sort of 20 odd years of our development, post-liberalization, everything that we have done.
16:28Even beyond that, you know, I find it a very striking example that the Brits in the last 20
16:32years have managed to build approximately less than, I would say, 100 kilometers of their high-speed
16:36line HS2. Well, I think Surat and Vapi are going to open up for the bullet train in a year's
16:42time,
16:42I believe, right?
16:43At that point in time, that scale of progress, again, I find it very akin to how the West,
16:47you know, view the Chinese, where initially, if you were seen as this backwater country,
16:52nobody quite paid as much attention to you.
16:54India, at the same time, as it's grown in its global stature and respect,
16:56has faced more scrutiny, and I think that's a good thing. The reason I think it's a good thing is
17:00because somewhere, I think, because somebody's afraid. Somebody's afraid, somebody feels a need
17:05to put somebody else down, and that, I think, is our ultimate victory. The more criticism we get
17:09somewhere, I think, is also another international factor of the idea that we are worth talking about,
17:14that we have arrived on the world stage to a large extent. We still have a long way to go
17:18on
17:18many things, do not get me wrong, right? But at that same point in time, how we carry ourselves
17:22has slowly started to change, has slowly started to be a process of having our head held a lot more,
17:29sort of a lot higher than we used to hold it. And I think that's a good thing. At that
17:33same point in time,
17:34I have a sort of very distasteful feeling with the rise of racism, with the rise of sort of distaste
17:39towards Indians. But somewhere, you know, maybe I do understand it. Because if in the UK, the average
17:44Indian family earns 1.5 times the average white household, you are going to be a bit jealous.
17:48If the highest earning per capita sort of group in the US are Indian Americans, you're going to try
17:54and ban some H1B visas, right? I fundamentally think anger is always somewhere a disposition of fear.
18:01And a little bit of fear, I think, is good for us.
18:04Right. Viranj, I think it's a very refreshing perspective that you've brought to light for all
18:11of us across the host of subjects that we touched upon in these last few minutes. Thank you so much
18:17for putting forward what the young minds think about the BRICS being hosted in India, not just in
18:23India, but how they view India in the world, especially at a time like this, when the global south
18:29has in fact offered an entire area which might just be changing this into and turning it into a
18:38multipolar world and more importantly, bring about a change in the existing global world order.
18:44Thank you so much, Viranj, for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.
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