Opposition BRICSbats: Congress Pans Veg Menu, Samajwadi Questions Outcomes

After the Congress' attack on the all-vegetarian menu at the BRICS summit, another Opposition party has criticised the high-level summit. The Samajwadi Party has questioned the BRICS outcome, saying a lot more could have been done in terms of stopping the wars plaguing the world.

Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav claimed that nothing significant came out of the summit. "Nothing significant came out of it. It would have been a different story had these BRICS nations come together to halt the Russia-Ukraine war or persuade the relevant parties regarding the conflict involving Iran," Yadav said.

"These wars are impacting the entire world; the economies are suffering adverse effects, and it is simply impossible for any part of the world to remain unaffected," he added.

The attack came even as the 11-member grouping adopted the New Delhi Declaration 2026, expressing serious concern over the escalation in the Middle East and calling for maximum restraint, dialogue and diplomacy. It also called for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and stressed the importance of maintaining global trade, supply chains and energy flows.

The joint declaration has been seen as a big diplomatic breakthrough for India as it managed to bridge the differences between Iran and UAE over the Middle East war.

In another big sign of diplomatic progress between Tehran and Abu Dhabi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a one-on-one meeting in New Delhi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

Earlier, the Congress had attacked the government for serving an all-veg menu at the BRICS summit. The party called it the BJP's effort to impose vegetarianism on the world. The world leaders attending the summit were offered a full vegetarian fare at the meet.

"The BJP's habit of imposing its dietary preferences on fellow Indians is already deeply problematic. Now, they have taken it a step further by imposing their own choices on dignitaries from across the world," Congress leader Pawan Khera posted on X.

The BJP has hit back, accusing the Congress of trivialising a major diplomatic event by focusing on food rather than policy outcomes. The Opposition, the BJP said, failed to raise questions on the summit's resolutions, discussions on global challenges, or India's success in securing consensus among BRICS members.

The Congress, it added, was "sulking" over India's emergence as an influential voice in global affairs and, in the absence of any real space to criticise, was focusing on the dinner menu.

The Congress had also demanded that the government should make public the details of talks between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.