India MEA Confirms BRICS Split on West Asia — No Consensus, Chair's Summary Only

India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal officially confirmed on April 27 that no joint statement could be issued from the April 24 BRICS MENA deputy foreign ministers meeting, citing inability to reach general consensus on the West Asia conflict. 'A joint statement was not possible because a general consensus could not be reached among the members regarding the ongoing conflict in West Asia,' Jaiswal said. The fracture revealed India's attempt to soften existing BRICS language criticising Israel — proposing to drop references to 'East Jerusalem' as a future Palestinian capital and weaken condemnation of Israeli bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon — which faced opposition from nearly all other BRICS members. A diplomat from another delegation described India's position as surprising given prior multilateral agreements. India's opposition Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh publicly criticised the government, saying India's insistence on 'diluting language on Israel and Palestine' was a significant reason for the failure to reach consensus, calling it a 'major diplomatic blow' during India's own BRICS chairmanship year. The BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, scheduled for May 14–15 in New Delhi, will attempt to resolve these divisions ahead of the September summit.