India’s diplomatic behaviour has changed dramatically. On 10‑11 September 2025 at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland and Pakistan learned the hard way that the old Nehruvian habit of silently absorbing lecturing is gone. India’s counsellor Kshitij Tyagi, representing the Permanent Mission in Geneva, responded to remarks from both countries with the kind of sharpness usually reserved for major‑power spats. He called Switzerland’s plea for India to protect minorities and uphold media freedoms “surprising, shallow and ill‑informed”. He reminded the Swiss that as UNHRC president they should avoid wasting the council’s time with false narratives and should instead focus on Switzerland’s own problems of racism, discrimination and xenophobia. The sting was sweeter because Switzerland had tried to club India with Syria, Turkey and Serbia while urging it to take “effective measures” to protect minorities and freedom of expression.
Tyagi’s riposte offered an invitation that seemed half‑sarcastic, half‑mischievous: India is ready to help Switzerland address those domestic challenges. That line flipped the moral narrative, implying that the world’s largest and most diverse democracy has more experience managing pluralism than a wealthy Alpine nation which sometimes struggles with its own xenophobia. It also marked India’s confidence in confronting Western (or Western‑adjacent) criticism. For decades New Delhi played the role of the polite supplicant, absorbing admonitions about Kashmir or minority rights. 2025’s India, flush with economic growth and geopolitical relevance, is less deferential. Switzerland learned that even “friends” will be publicly chastised if they parrot talking points from NGOs or Brussels.
Pakistan’s reprimand was even more bruising. When Islamabad’s delegate repeated the usual accusations about Kashmir and human rights, Tyagi described Pakistan as a “terror sponsor” and mocked its own leadership’s recent self‑description as a “dump truck,” saying the metaphor was apt for a state that deposits “recycled falsehoods and stale propaganda”. He evoked the 2025 Pahalgam attack – when Pakistan‑sponsored terrorists turned a meadow of joy into a killing field – and reminded the Council of the 9/11 attacks, the 2019 Pulwama bombing and the 2016 Uri assault. “We need no lessons from a terror sponsor, no sermons from a persecutor of minorities and no advice from a state that has squandered its own credibility,” he said. Pakistan, Tyagi added, continues to finance and shelter the networks that threaten global security.
This muscular diplomacy plays well domestically. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supporters see it as long‑overdue assertiveness, a sign that India will no longer tolerate hectoring from countries that either ignore their own sins or harbour terrorists. Yet there is a trap here. Critics want India to overreact – to lose its cool and thereby lose its friends. The example of Israel’s response to Hamas’s atrocities on 7 October 2023 is instructive. Hamas provoked Israel hoping for a reaction that would alienate public opinion and isolate the Jewish state. Israel fell into that trap; as the months wore on, global sympathy bled away and calls for sanctions grew. Pakistan and separatist groups would love to goad India into a similar spiral of anger and vengeance. So would the Khalistanis.
An Asia‑centric foreign policy column cannot resist a cricketing analogy: India needs to play like Virat Kohli at his disciplined best, not like a batter who swings at every bouncer. Tyagi’s barbs were witty and controlled; they struck back without inviting escalation. That should be the model. Yes, call out hypocrisy. Yes, remind the world that India’s democratic credentials are often stronger than those of its critics. But resist the temptation to take every insult personally or to punish well‑meaning friends for sloppy language. When Switzerland blunders, as it did this week, a polite but firm correction suffices. When Pakistan hurls propaganda, remind the Council of its terror record and move on. Let others call out Islamabad; the evidence is ample and the world is listening.
India’s rise means it will be scrutinised like any other power. A confident great power responds with facts and humour, not petulance. Tyagi’s Geneva performance showed both the promise of the new muscular India. As it takes on the West and its neighbours, it must remember that the goal is not to win shouting matches but to win allies and investment. In politics as in markets, reputational capital matters. A little wit helps too.
