External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said today India is much more dominant regionally and now, nobody sees India and Pakistan on equal terms. "The country has clearly come out in the region as the primary power,” news agency ANI quoted Jaishankar as saying. He hailed India's rise to the fifth-largest economy.

Addressing the students of Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, the external affairs minister said, "When I was of your age, there was an era when the world used to see India and Pakistan on equal terms. Today, nobody does that, not even Pakistan. We have clearly come out in the region as the primary power."

Today India is much more dominant regionally. There was an era when the world used to see India and Pakistan on equal terms. Today nobody does that, not even Pakistan. We have clearly come out in the region as the primary power: EAM Dr S Jaishankar, in Varanasi pic.twitter.com/WDEicKR5IS — ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2022

Hailing India as a leading power in Information technology human resources, he praised the Indian diaspora and acknowledged their “increasingly important role in the global world” as well as their contribution to “the rise of India”. “10-15 years ago, India used to be at the world's back office in terms of IT. Today, Indians are increasingly seen as innovators. The world sees the talent and skill in us and the world is trying to integrate it into their businesses,” he said.

“When the world looks at the rise of India, for them the contribution and successes of the diaspora are part of the story of the rise of India. So we too have a responsibility, if so many Indians live abroad it's our duty to look after it," ANI reported quoting him.

At the university, Jaishankar earlier inspected the newly inaugurated Kashi Tamil Sangamam Exhibition. The exhibition was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November as a month-long celebration in a bid to “rediscover, reaffirm and celebrate the age-old links between Tamil Nadu and Kashi – two of the country’s most important and ancient seats of learning”. The exhibition is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Education along with ministries of Culture, Textiles, Railways, Tourism, Food Processing, I&B, etc, and the government of UP.