Does India's active role at the 2026 BRICS Summit indicate a revival of non-alignment, or is it consistent with its policy of strategic autonomy? Discuss.

India chaired and hosted the 18th BRICS Summit at New Delhi on 12–13 September 2026 [1], where an eleven-member grouping adopted the 140-paragraph New Delhi Declaration [2]. Its language recalls the Non-Aligned Movement; India's conduct, however, remains anchored in strategic autonomy.

The case for a "revival of non-alignment"

• The Declaration criticises unilateral sanctions not authorised by the UNSC as inconsistent with the UN Charter, and seeks their elimination [2] — a sharper tone than India usually signs.
• It presses UNSC reform with greater Asian, African and Latin American representation [2], reviving the Global South's demand for a democratised world order.
• Support for a BRICS payment mechanism and local-currency settlement [2] is read abroad as de-dollarisation intent.
• As host, India owned the text publicly, while engaging the Russian, Chinese and Iranian leadership bilaterally — optically a tilt away from the West.

Why it is better read as strategic autonomy

• Non-alignment meant distance from both blocs; multi-alignment means spread — India sits simultaneously in BRICS and the SCO, and in the Quad and I2U2, deciding issue by issue. Warm summit bilaterals are the doctrine working, not changing.
• A doctrinal shift would show in what India concedes: there is no Quad exit, no rollback of defence and technology partnerships with the West, and no acceptance of a common BRICS currency.
• India's real currency policy is bilateral and incremental — the RBI's rupee trade-settlement framework through Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (July 2022) [3] — not a bloc-wide anti-dollar architecture.
• BRICS decides by consensus; with eleven members, text is softened until acceptable, and declarations create no treaty obligation. Its language therefore signals preference, not alignment.

India's posture thus marks a shift in emphasis and voice, not in alignment — continuity with the strategic autonomy tradition that BRICS itself was joined to serve [4]. The way forward lies in converting rhetorical leadership of the Global South into deliverables — reformed multilateralism, development finance and trade facilitation — while preserving balanced ties across all poles.