Jaishankar: Better to engage with world on own terms than try to please it

India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankaron Wednesday (April 27) said that the country will engage with the world the way it wants instead of pleasing the world as a "pale imitation" of who they are.

While speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said: "It is better to engage with the world on the basis of who we are rather than try to please the world as a pale imitation of who they are."

"The idea that others define us and we need approval is an era that we need to put behind us," he added.

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"When we look at India at 75, we are not just looking at the 75 completed years, but 25 years ahead. What have we done, where have we faltered?" he said while talking about India at 75.

Weighing in on the future of the country, Jaishankar said in the next 25 years, India should be at the next stage of globalisation, adding that the nationshould be about capability building.

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He said that there was a time when this part of the "world we were the only democracy". "We should be focusing on our capabilities in every field and must be fixated on outcomes and leveraging from the international environment in coming years", Jaishankar noted.

"There is a gut sense that democracy is the future," he said that one difference that he can pick is that Indians have asserted to the world that they are a democracy.

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