www.IndIaneXPReSS.CoM MCS/204/2020-22 RnI no. MahenG 2002/21899 Mammootty wants to dance At 75, Mammootty is the face of arrival, one who can sit with kings and not lose the common touch mumBai, sepTemBer 13, 2026 bOOKS Sheena Kalayil on her Women’s Prize longlisted novel, writing about migrants and refusing to stay in her lane laTe CITy 14+4 PaGeS ₹6.00 d a I l y F R o M : a h M e d a B a d , C h a n d I G a R h , d e l h I , j a I P u R , K o l K a T a , l u C K n o w , M u M B a I , n a G P u R , P a T n a , P u n e , v a d o d a R a new delhi deClaRatiOn 2026 findS COMMOn gROUnd On glObal COnfliCtS As walls rise, BRICS speaks Modi and Xi hold talks: ‘Partners not rivals, committed to resolution of boundary question’ Uae pRinCe, peZeShKian Meet Six months into war, Iran and UAE find consensus in BRICS joint declaration Leaders agree to address each other’s concerns over economic, trade relations, facilitate ‘meaningful’ market access Shubhajit Roy & divya a New Delhi, September 12 tWo yeArS after their meeting in russia’s Kazan led to the disengagement of troops along the line of Actual Control in eastern ladakh after a tense military standoff that began 2020, Prime Minister narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that “differences should not become disputes” and committed themselves to “a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question”. holding bilateral talks in new delhi on the sidelines of the BriCS Summit — it was their first meeting in india in seven years amid efforts to re- Bloc calls for restraint, flags sovereignty, threat to civilians, infra, smooth oil flows storerelationsthatplummeted aftertheChineseincursionssix years ago — Modi and Xi said “both countries should take a strategic and long term perspective of their ties”. during the meeting, the Prime Minister, according to a statement from the Ministry of external Affairs, highlighted that“bothsidesmustbeguided by three mutuals: mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest”. these “three mutuals” have been part of delhi’s redlines over the last five years. the Chinese foreign Ministry statement on the talks quoted Xi telling Modi that “China and india are partners rather than rivals” providing Shubhajit Roy »COntinUed On page 2 express special no fire & brimstone: delhi pushes back against making brics a geopolitical bloc prime minister narendra modi with chinese president Xi Jinping and russian president Vladimir putin in new delhi, saturday. anI BRICS india 2026 UNSC reform, terror, Gaza: 2026 Delhi borrows from 2025 Rio page 8 nimhans at centre of brics’ mental wellness network Gudauri (Georgia) , September 12 Underlying the wordy 140-paragraph declaration of the delhi BriCS summit is india’s careful steering of the twenty-year forum amid deepening great-power conflict involving its own members, economicuncertaintyaccentuated by wars in europe and the Middle east. delhi’s diplomatic success lies in keeping BriCS “boring”, if you will, amid the rhetorical excess about radical global »COntinUed On page 2 could further aggravate the situation.” the declaration acknowledged the sensibilities of both sidesbyflaggingterritorialsovereignty and the need to secure civilians and infrastructure. UAe has been at the receiving end of a series of iranian strikes on its cities with tehran calling »COntinUed On page 2 balance, swipe at (US) tariffs, flagging Gaza page 7 changethatoftenaccompanies its summits. the declaration reaffirms the political diversity of the forumanddispelsthenotionof an ideological crusade against the West — one that some supporters of BriCS desire and many of its critics assume is already under way. it contains familiar criticism of unilateral sanctions, tariffs and protectionism, as wellasstronglanguageongaza and other humanitarian crises. But it does not turn BriCS into a collective political front By EP UNNY Pyramid of privilege must give Behind the agreement: way to partnership platform: PM No Ukraine, Iran-UAE zero tolerance on cross-border terror: grouping on pahalgam C Raja Mohan AS the six-month-long West Asia war flares up with US and iran exchanging strikes, india achievedthemuch-anticipated — and the much-fraught — consensus at the BriCS summitbetweenUAeandiranafter hectic negotiations paving the way for the joint declaration adopted Saturday. Against this backdrop, UAe’s Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al nahyan, who is the Crown Prince of Abu dhabi, met iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the margins of the BriCS summit. in paragraph 28 of the joint declaration, the BriCS leaders said,“Weexpressdeepconcern over the continued escalation oftensionsinMiddleeast/West Asia and, recalling our respective national positions, call for exercisingmaximumrestraint, as well as avoiding actions that pROpOSeS MeChaniSM fOR fOllOw-Up Of initiativeS full coverage at the Brics summit venue in new delhi, saturday. PRaveen Khanna business as usual New Delhi, September 12 divya a & Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, September 12 page 11 bloc pushes for reform s in wto happening today Brics leaders plant trees at the Bharat mandapam in new delhi, saturday. Mea ‘Coming of age moment for BRICS@20, Global South must be rule-shaper’ lOn the final day of the Shubhajit Roy & divya a Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Underlining the “coming ofage”ofBriCSinits20thyear, Prime Minister narendra Modi saidSaturdaythatthegrouping has carved a distinct identity foritselfontheglobalstageand its members “respect each BRICS Summit, member countries will take part in an open session on ‘Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth’. New Delhi, September 12 other’s perspectives and move forward through consensus”. he said they strive to progress “not by opposing anyone, but by taking everyone along”. he made these remarks hours before the BriCS declarationwasadoptedthroughconsensus. the UAe and iran, at loggerheadseversincethestart of the war in West Asia, came aroundafterhecticnegotiations over the last few days. Pitching for the global South’s presence at the table, Modisaidthemessagefromthe summithostedbyindiaisclear: “ifourfutureisshared,thenthe right to shape it must also be shared. from voice to impact. from privilege to partnership. let this be the resolve of BriCS at 20.” With Chinese President »COntinUed On page 2 the 45-page BriCS declaration achieved a consensus through careful diplomatic calibration nuancing the most divisive issues and creating space for each of the participants to walk away with their stated goals acknowledged — and their triggers avoided. As many as 140 paragraphs of the document dwelt at length on trade, health, Ai and tourism,makingthedocument cooperative rather than confrontational. inmanycases,itechoedthe 2025riodeclaration—beitthe war in gaza, Pahalgam terror attack or UnSC reforms. thedeclarationavoidedany mention of the “t” that matters themost—trump—butitused theothertwots,tradeandtariff. thesefoundrepeatedmentions inthedeclaration.Whileallparticipantshavebeenatthereceiving end of US tariffs, two important members of the grouping – russia and iran – have repeatedly faced the pressure of US economic sanctions. in this context, para 22ofthedeclarationsays the members condemn “unilateral coercive measures,” “unilateral economicsanctionsand secondary sanctions” — which isstandardBriCSshorthandfor Westernsanctionsregimes.Para 27talksaboutlatinAmericaand theCaribbeanasazoneofpeace, mentions “tightening of unilateral blockade measures” on E. »COntinUed On page 2 RBI rejects Tata Sons leaders discuss long-sTanding Bonds of friendship BeTween iran and india request to remain pvt, Delhi rolls out red carpet for Pezeshkian, daughter: Rashtrapati Bhavan to shopping at BRICS Bazaar asks it to go public l 90 118 145 78 maharashtra students use social media to highlight civic failures, with some videos prompting action page 4 george Mathew Mumbai, September 12 in A big setback to the noel tata-led tata group, the reserveBankofindiahasrejected the application of its principal holding company tata Sons ltd, to remain an unregistered investmentcompany.ithas,instead, directed the company “toensurefullcompliancewith all guidelines/ instructions” which means tata Sons will have to go for an initial public offering (iPo) and list its shares on the stock exchanges. listing tata Sons was one of thekeyissueswhichhaddivided the trustees of tata trusts, whichholdsabout66percentin the company through various entities.therBidecisioncomes at a critical juncture when the tata group is searching for a newchairmantoreplacenChandrasekaran, who announced he would step down after his term ends on february 20, 2027, since the board was not unanimous on his reappointment. »COntinUed On page 2 divya a New Delhi, September 12 AheAdoftheopeningsession oftheBriCSSummit,President droupadi Murmu hosted visiting iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian — the only dignitary hosted by the rashtrapati Bhavan during the summit. Pezeshkian, who landed in new delhi along with his daughterZahra,heldextensive bilateral talks with Prime Minister narendra Modi on friday. this comes during the West president droupadi murmu with iranian president masoud pezeshkian; his daughter Zahra (second from left) at the Brics Bazaar along with union minister annpurna devi, in new delhi, saturday. PTI & anI Asia conflict between iran and the US. during his visit to the presidential estate, the iranian presidentalsovisitedtheiranianhall atthepresidentialestate—referringtothegrandAshokMandap, which houses prominent Qajarera Persian artwork dating back to the reign of fath-Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of Qajar iran,whoreignedfromJune1797 untilhisdeathinoctober1834. Welcoming President Pezeshkian on his first visit to »COntinUed On page 2