India’s foreign policy has your back when you travel abroad — because for the first time, Indian diplomacy is playing to win, not just to avoid defeat.At the DU Literature Festival 2025 hosted at SRCC, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar joins Sanjeev Sanyal — who launched Jaishankar’s very first book in 2007 — for a candid conversation about India’s rising global stature. The discussion reframes Indian diplomacy using a cricket metaphor: the old mindset never stepped outside the crease, happy to survive for a draw. Today’s India is on the front foot, building relationships with Trump, Putin, and the global south simultaneously — because nationalist leaders, Jaishankar observes, tend to respect each other’s core interests.He is unapologetically direct about civilisational confidence: when other countries — some barely managing their own affairs — pass judgment on India, his answer is firm: your history is different, mine is longer. The session closes with personal advice to UPSC aspirants on remaining calm under examination pressure — the same mental discipline Jaishankar applies before every high-stakes bilateral meeting.

About The Speakers:
Dr. S. Jaishankar is serving as India’s Minister of External Affairs since May 2019. He was India’s Foreign Secretary from 2015 to 2018. In a career spanning four decades in the Indian Foreign Service, he served as Ambassador to the United States, China and Czech Republic as well as High Commissioner to Singapore. His books include the best-selling ‘The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World’ and the recently authored – ‘Why Bharat Matters’.
Sanjeev Sanyal is currently a Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) and is also serving as the Chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. He has authored a number of best-selling books, and is also the Festival Patron of the Delhi University Literature Festival since its inception in 2023.