External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said he felt things are moving in a “positive direction”when it comes to India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, and asserted that ‘Viksit Bharat’will have many faces and expressions and the UNSC will be “one of them”.

In his opening address at an event hosted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in Delhi, days ahead of the polling here for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he also said the choice for people is “whether the ‘gaadi of Bharat’ should go on fourth gear, fifth gear or whether it should go on reverse gear”.

In his address, he also stressed on how India and the Narendra Modi government handled the Covid-19 crisis, with the prime minister of the day, the government of the day taking a “serious, sober view” of the challenge. Jaishankar also cited the example of the eastern Ladakh situation that started four years ago and the way India responded to it

While Covid was going on, China decided, end of April, early May, to move a very, very large number of forces to our border. This was in violation of multiple agreements that we were not supposed to bring such a large number of forces the border.