New Delhi, October 4: Asserting that there is no contradiction in being nationalistic and engaging with the world, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Friday said that nationalism is not a negative ideology. "India is an exception as we are more nationalistic. But at the same time, we don’t see a tension between being nationalistic and being international, in the sense of engaging more with the world," he said at the World Economic Forum. MEA S Jaishankar Lambasts British for Looting $45 Trillion From India, Claims Country Suffered 'Humiliation' Under Colonial Rule.

"...so nationalism is not a negative sentiment," Jaishnkar added. The minister also made a veiled attack on Pakistan over regional cooperation. “I would say entire neighbourhood, minus one, has been a fairly good story for regional cooperation,” said Jaishankar. Asked if he would call the situation with the "minus one" a permanent impasse, the minister said: "I wouldn’t. Then I would be admitting something is not possible that diplomacy has limits and I cannot ever accept that." 'Mahatma Gandhi Would Have Liked Indians to Focus on Tackling Issue of Climate Change', Says MEA S Jaishankar.

Jaishankar added that he hopes “even the minus one” will come around. In response to a question, the former Foreign Secretary said that the Kashmir issue was not discussed with the US. He also shot down speculations on whether India would copy China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), reiterating New Delhi’s longstanding position on the project. He had last month said that there would be no rethinking on India’s position on the BRI.

"We are us and not just some other country. It’s not just in this initiative but in whole lot of areas. My own sense is as India becomes bigger, we will find concepts developed for other countries won’t necessarily apply to us. It’s not very likely we’ll copy models (from others)," Jaishankar said. "We have a longstanding position on that. It is connected with sovereign matters. That has not changed," he added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 04, 2019 04:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).