Jaishankar says the UN is gridlocked and must be fixed, not worked around

6 October 2026

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the United Nations is "gridlocked" and has been "largely irrelevant" to decision-making on issues such as the Gulf and Ukraine conflicts.
He was speaking at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi on Monday, 5 October 2026.
He linked the problem to a Security Council that no longer represents the entirety of global interest.
The UN started with 51 members and now has almost four times that number, he noted.
He said a few countries resisting UN reform were using Africa's interests as an argument, though Africa has put its own position in the intergovernmental negotiations.
His line, as reported by The Indian Express, was to "fix the United Nations, not work around it".