Know When And Why External Affairs Min Jaishankar Showed Inked Finger To Hail Democracy

Munich: When asked to share his views on Western democracy, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar differed from the Western view that democracy was in trouble globally at the Munich Security Conference 2025. Rather, he put up his inked finger to highlight India’s democracy. This happened while he was taking part in a panel discussion on the topic ‘Live to Vote Another Day: Fortifying Democratic Resilience’ alongside Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, US Senator Elissa Slotkin and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowsk on Friday.

“Well, before I do that, I appeared to be an optimist in what is relatively a pessimistic panel, if not room. I will begin by sticking up my finger and don’t take it badly, it is the index finger. This, the mark you see on my nail, is a mark of a person who has just voted. We just had an election in my state just over. Last year, we had a national election,” Jaishankar said as he highlighted how around two-thirds of the eligible voters cast their votes in India’s elections.

He stressed that of the electorate of around 900 million, 700 million voted during the national elections. “We count the votes in a single day,” he said.

‘We are living well, we are voting well’

“Nobody disputes the (election) result after it’s announced and by the way, from the time we started voting in the modern era, 20 per cent of people more vote today than they did decades ago,” he stated. “So, the first message is that somehow democracy is in trouble globally, worldwide, I am sorry, I have to differ with it. I mean, right now, we are living well. We are voting well. We are optimistic about the direction of our democracy and for us democracy is actually delivered,” Jaishankar added.

When US Senator Elissa Slotkin’s remarked that “democracy doesn’t put food on the table”, Jaishankar responded by saying: “Actually, in my part of the world, it does. Today, because we are a democratic, we give nutrition support, and food to 800 million people and for whom that is a matter of how healthy they are and how full their stomachs are. So the point I want to make is look different parts of the world are going through different conversations. Please do not assume that this a kind of universal phenomenon, it is not.”

Later taking to social media, Jaishankar wrote on X that at MSC 2025, he differed “with the prevailing political pessimism” and spoke his mind on “foreign interference”.

The EAM noted that after independence, India chose a democratic model as the nation had a fundamentally consultative pluralistic society. Jaishankar insisted that India has remained true to its democratic model despite the challenges and urged the West to embrace successful models outside of its region if it wants democracy to emerge victorious.

The 61st Munich Security Conference is being held in Germany’s Munich. It began on February 14 and will conclude on February 16.