India and Central Asia: Seeking a “Third Path” Amid BRICS Expansion and Geopolitical Fracture

Dr Sonia Verma greenwarriorsoniaverma@gmail.com In September 2026, New Delhi hosted a BRICS summit of unprecedented scale. Unlike the 2021 gathering of just five nations, held entirely online, this year’s venue seated representatives from eleven full member states—Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia having joined—transforming what was once a “like-minded small club” into a complex, broad platform. Just two weeks before the summit opened, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had completed visits to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek. The convergence of these two diplomatic threads outlines the core proposition of India’s position in…