Delhi meet exposes deep cracks in BRICS wall, and a slippery slope for India

A fractured world gets reflected in international fora, and the BRICS, built brick by brick over the years, is no exception. Starting with just five members, including India, 17 years ago, it is now a wall with 10 full-time member countries and 10 partner states. But the conflicts in the Middle East have exposed the cracks in what should have been a solid wall. That deep schism was revealed at the recent summit in New Delhi, at a time when India is the leader of the bloc by rotation.

The BRICS talks in New Delhi failed to produce a joint statement, and the cause is sharp internal divisions that complicated India's effort to build a consensus. Disputes over the US-Iran war, a standoff between Iran and the UAE, and an alleged resistance to India's so-called changes in the wording on the Israel-Palestine issue led to a stalemate. India, however, has clarified that there has been no change in its Palestine stance.

The divisions appear ahead of key meetings next month and the summit later this year. India assumed the BRICS presidency on January 1, 2026, and will be the head for a year.

The meeting of deputy foreign ministers and special envoys of the 11-member BRICS bloc in New Delhi last Friday (April 24) ended without a joint statement. That despite diplomats burning the midnight oil.

Diplomats quoted by The Hindu called the atmosphere in the meeting "very tense", with delegations taking "maximalist positions" and discussions becoming "tedious and prolonged". The outcome points to an increase in difficulties for India's BRICS presidency this year, and also exposes deep cracks within the BRICS grouping, with member states having widely different goals and unwilling to compromise with each other.

According to the report, the US–Iran War dominated proceedings, with Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) clashing over how the conflict should be framed. Both Iran and the UAE are full members, added to the BRICS in 2024.

IRAN WAR AND INDIA'S PUSH TO TONE DOWN ISRAEL CRITICISM

Iran pushed for language recognising the US and Israel as having initiated the conflict with aerial strikes on February 28, while the UAE insisted on explicitly criticising Iran for attacking a fellow BRICS member. Diplomats described the positions as irreconcilable.

Iran has been questioning the absence of a BRICS statement criticising the joint US-Israeli strikes on it.

"BRICS is deeply polarised," one diplomat told The Hindu. Another delegate described an environment where participants were adamant about not giving ground," with negotiations stretching well past midnight and running hours beyond schedule the next day.

The newspaper also highlighted friction over India's own negotiating stance. Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reportedly attempted to "tone down" references to Israel and Palestine in the draft statement.

This included softening criticism of Israel's bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon, and removing any mention of "East Jerusalem" as the capital of a future Palestinian state under a two-state solution. Officials also pushed to replace direct references to Israel in critiques of operations in the West Bank and Lebanon with the more oblique term "occupying power".

"We were very surprised as India has agreed to such language at many multilateral fora," a diplomat told The Hindu. However, another diplomat noted that India had incorporated similar changes during the India–Arab League Summit held in Delhi in January 2026. In bilateral statements, India stopped using the term "East Jerusalem" in 2017.

DEEP CRACKS IN BRICS EVEN AS INDIA ATTAINS PRESIDENCY

The government has rejected suggestions of any policy shift on the Palestine issue.

"Let me clarify the issue for you... We have seen some speculative and inaccurate reporting on the recent BRICS officials' meeting," said MEA spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, at an inter-ministerial briefing.

Jaiswal stressed that "there was no change in India's position on the Palestine issue", and urged reporters to refer to the outcome of the India–Arab League Foreign Ministers' meeting held in Delhi earlier this year, noting, "This outcome was endorsed by all present, including Palestine." This is according to a report in news agency PTI.

Jaiswal added that "differences at the recent BRICS meeting were on account of the ongoing conflict in West Asia", and confirmed that a joint statement "could not be reached", leading to the issuance of a "chair summary".

Official sources, quoted by PTI, said "sharp differences" among member states over the US-Israel war on Iran had stalled India's efforts to forge consensus, reiterating that there was "no change" in New Delhi's long-standing position on Palestine.

NO JOINT STATEMENT SHOCKING AND SHAMEFUL: CONGRESS

The outcome of the BRICS meeting also drew sharp political criticism at home.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X on Monday, said, "What is shocking and shameful is that the other reason for not having a joint statement was India’s insistence on diluting the language on Israel and Palestine, which was unacceptable to" other BRICS members.

He further alleged that India is, "the only major country in the world to continue to show such steadfast solidarity with the Israeli regime that continues its genocide in Gaza, its heavy bombardment of southern Lebanon, and its brutal dispossession and displacement of lakhs of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank."

With divisions proving insurmountable, India ultimately issued a Chair's Statement, instead of a joint declaration, PTI reported.

The statement read: "The BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) met on 24 April 2026 in New Delhi, and exchanged views on the current situation in the region. Members expressed deep concern on the recent conflict in the Middle East and offered views and assessments on the matter. The discussions covered the Palestine issue and the Gaza situation, including provision of humanitarian aid, the role of UNRWA, zero-tolerance approach to terrorism, welcoming the ceasefire in Lebanon, the unacceptability of attacks on UNIFIL, post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation in Syria, political settlement in Yemen, stability and development in Iraq, political process in Libya, and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Sudan."

The MEA said the statement reflected limited common ground, noting that participants expressed "deep concern" about the situation in the Middle East and discussed the Palestine issue and the Gaza situation, PTI reported.

BRICS EXPANSION HAS MADE FORUM UNWIELDY

India attained the BRICS presidency for the fourth time since the forum was founded in 2019 with five countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

At the time of its founding, the purpose of the forum was to serve as a platform for economic, political, and diplomatic cooperation among major emerging economies, with the broader goal of increasing the influence of the Global South, and serving as a counterweight to the economic and political power of the US-led Western Hemisphere.

Since then, the forum has significantly expanded its membership from five to now 10, with the inclusion of Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE and Iran. Saudi Arabia was granted member status in 2024 but has yet to join the grouping. In addition, the grouping has also granted partner status to 10 countries—Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

A host of other nations, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Syria, have expressed interest in joining the forum.

While the addition of members added heft to the forum, there has been a divergence in vision and interests too. The clash between Iran and the UAE in the recent meeting serves as an example. Then there is the rivalry between Ethiopia and Egypt.

Far from serving as a platform for global cooperation, the BRICS forum has increasingly become more and more unwieldy with the grouping's expansion as well the members unable to see eye to eye with each other.

BRICS HAS SEEN DIVERGENCE BECAUSE OF INDIA, CHINA PRIORITIES

A 2023 report by the US-based think tank Atlantic Council noted significant divergence in vision between China and India, the two largest members of BRICS.

The report noted that China has pushed to orient the BRICS group towards supporting its broader geopolitical agenda, including the promotion of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its Global Development Initiative (GDI), and the use of strong anti-US rhetoric.

In contrast, India has consistently worked to steer BRICS discussions towards practical South-South economic and financial cooperation, initiatives aimed at reducing excessive global reliance on the US dollar, and reforms of international financial institutions to give developing countries greater voice and representation.

The forum has also been divided over the issue of de-dollarisation. Russia and China have been pushing aggressively for faster de-dollarisation, including the development of alternative payment systems (such as BRICS Pay) and even discussions about a common BRICS currency or reserve asset, largely to reduce vulnerability to Western sanctions and lessen dependence on the US dollar.

This was strongly opposed by India, with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reported to have stated last year, "Imagine us having a currency shared with China. We have no plans. It is impossible to think of a BRICS currency."

The expansion of the forum has thrown fresh fuel to the fire, with many new members having deep-seated rivalries with each other. Ethiopia and Egypt, for instance, have been at loggerheads over Addis Abbaba's plans to build and expand the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which are opposed by Cairo due to fears of reduced downstream flow of the Nile River, on which Egypt depends for more than 90% of its freshwater.

The inflexibility of BRICS members to deal with disputes poses a risk to the forum. This was made painfully evident as BRICS failed to produce a joint statement last Friday.

The issues have set the stage for more difficult negotiations in the weeks ahead, with BRICS Foreign Ministers due to meet on May 14–15 and the summit scheduled for September 10–11. As the current president of the forum, India would be walking a tightrope. It will need to find a way of preventing the cracks in the BRICS wall from widening. That's easier said than done.

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