G20 THE EMERGING GLOBAL ORDER

THE INDIAN G20 PRESIDENCY SCORED IN SYMBOLISM AND IN SUBSTANCE BY BECOMING THE EMPHATIC VOICE OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH. DESPITE THE GEOPOLITICAL DIVIDE, PUSHING FOR THE GLOBAL COMMON GOOD TO ACHIEVE OUTCOMES IS THE WAY FORWARD

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

Before the G20 summit in New Delhi began, there was, as Shakespeare put it, a tide in the affairs of men. The global order lay fractured. Divided by the Ukraine War. Split over how to tackle the adverse impact of climate change. Torn asunder by a pandemic that ravaged lives and economies. Disunited on how to conduct world trade. Bisected by the tech haves and have-nots. Dissected into income groups and development indices. The cleavages were deep and glaringly stark. But amidst all this gloom and doom, the most powerful grouping of world leaders had a choice. To paraphrase the Bard, taken at the flood, it could pull the world towards harmony, healing, hope and prosperity. If not, then with the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping deciding to skip the summit, the Indian presidency of the G20 would have faced the grave prospect of omitting a consensus declaration from the leaders. That would have signalled a failure and cheered India's detractors but led to greater global strife and misery.

It would be India's moment, though, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi interrupted the proceedings of the G20 to announce dramatically that the New Delhi Declaration had the approval of its members. Banging down the gavel decisively, he declared that it had been adopted, to cheers not just from Team India that had worked hard to achieve it but also the assembled world leaders. If there was ever a turning point in recent history, then the one witnessed in the Bharat Mandapam on the afternoon of September 9, 2023 would be among the top contenders. For over 100 nations (including the African Union that was admitted to the G20 earlier that morning, thanks to India's persistence) that accounted for three-fourths of the world's GDP demonstrated they could sink their enormous differences and together work for the "global public good".