External affairs minister S Jaishankar recently broke his silence on the ongoing diplomatic row with the Maldives saying it can’t be guaranteed that every country will support or agree with India all the time.

When asked about the recent rift with the Maldives at a townhall meeting in Nagpur, Jaishankar said, “Politics is politics. I cannot guarantee that in every country, every day, everybody will support us or agree with us.

What we are trying to do, and with a lot of success in the last 10 years, is to build a very strong connect.”

Jaishankar highlighted India’s efforts over the past decade to build strong connections globally, focusing on fostering positive sentiments among people, despite the ups and downs in political relations.

Politics may go up and down but the people of that nation generally have good feelings towards India and understand the importance of having good relations,” he said.

The minister further noted India’s involvement in infrastructure development in other countries.

“We are involved today in building roads, electricity, transmission, supplying fuel, providing trade access, making investments, and having people holiday in other countries,” Jaishankar said, stressing that “all these are parts of how you develop those relationships.”