new Delhi.India has been eyeing for a long time the permanent seat of the UN Security Council. Recently, US President Donald Trump had openly supported India over its claim to a permanent seat. Apart from this, Australian PM Scott Morrison had also supported India’s claim for the seat during the Vurat summit a day earlier. The question of India’s presence in the UNSC also arises here because elections are to be held on June 17 for the temporary seat of the Security Council. India’s victory is believed to be fixed in this. Significantly, the UN Security Council consists of a total of 15 member countries, including 10 temporary and half the temporary member countries are elected every year. Right there On the other hand, the cloud of apprehension over a permanent seat in the council is not completely quelled. Meera Shankar, a former Indian ambassador to the US, who has a very close view of American politics, has a different opinion about it.
He says that the kind of statement that President Trump has given this time has been given by the US earlier also, but its truth is in front of all of us. According to him, former President Barack Obama also supported the Indian claim to the Security Council in the statements, but nothing happened to him. In his view, somewhere behind these statements, America also wants that the number of members of this council should not be increased. On the other hand, American politics has been such from the beginning that such statements given by them do not become a reality. Therefore, this time there is no need to be more happy about the statement from America.
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The former ambassador also says that the biggest obstacle for India’s permanent membership of the Security Council is China. China has veto power which it has used every time. This time too, on the issue of India, he will not back down from using it. This is the reason why Meera believes that getting a permanent seat in UNSC is still a dream for India. He says that China is the only country in this council that has stuck every time. Therefore, China finds it very difficult to make this dream of a simple India come true.
According to him, other countries except China have been supporting India’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council on many forums, but they do not want to increase the number of its members. Significantly, India has secured support for the temporary seat of the Security Council by 55 countries of the Asia Pacific group a year ago. The upcoming election is merely a technical process. India has been a temporary member of the Security Council seven times.
