"AK-87": Anand Mahindra Praises G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant For Delhi Declaration

Industrialist Anand Mahindra has praised the efforts of G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant for achieving consensus on many key issues in the Delhi Declaration, including the Ukraine conflict. Mr Mahindra quote-tweeted an NDTV clip in which Mr Kant explained the non-stop negotiations with different countries that went on till the last minute before finalising the draft. Mr Kant said 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings and 15 drafts went into achieving consensus on the Ukraine conflict. The declaration was adopted by the Group of 20 on Saturday, the first day of the two-day summit in Delhi.

"I hereby give @amitabhk87 the title "AK-87: A Weapon of Mass Diplomacy"," Mr Mahindra said in his post on X (formerly Twitter).

I hereby give @amitabhk87 the title “AK-87: A Weapon of Mass Diplomacy” https://t.co/wTuY66gHtz

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 11, 2023

Soon, reactions started pouring in with users praising the efforts of the Indian side.

"Wow. We cannot achieve growth and progress without peace. Hope this #UkraineRussianWar gets over soon and world is back to normal life," commented one user. "There is nothing Mr. Amitabh Cant do!" said another.

"Absolutely epic, Mr. Kant! Diplomacy as powerful as an AK-87 - wielding words for world peace... Kudos to the entire team for their tireless efforts in bringing nations together," a third user commented.

Also Read | What Is Delhi Declaration? All You Need To Know About Consensus Document

In the video, Mr Kant told NDTV's Vishnu Som that the negotiations went on till the last minute. He explained that the team drew "red lines" of each country and then worked on the final draft. 

"Nobody expected that we'll arrive at a consensus. On the first draft, we got a number of reactions. People were very pessimistic about consensus on Russia-Ukraine crisis because all multilateral and bilateral forums had failed at arriving a consensus during the last one year.

The G20's adoption of New Delhi declaration is being seen as a huge win for India against the backdrop of the challenges in reaching consensus due to the Ukraine conflict and differences over tackling climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the adoption of the declaration, congratulating all the ministers and sherpa "who worked hard for it and made it possible".

Mr Kant, the G20 Sherpa, received all-round praise for his and his team's work behind building consensus on contentious issues such as Ukraine.