External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday asserted that India will do whatever is necessary to defend itself against “bad neighbours”, underlining that the country will take decisions on its security based on its own judgement and interests. Speaking at IIT Madras, Jaishankar said, “nobody can tell us what we should do or not we will do whatever we have to do to defend ourselves it's a common sense proposition.”

Referring to water-sharing arrangements with neighbouring countries, the External Affairs Minister said such agreements were rooted in goodwill and the belief in fostering peaceful relations. “many years ago we agreed to a water arrangement water sharing arrangement because the belief the underpinning of that was it was a gesture of goodwill because for good neighborliness we were doing it,” he said.

However, he made it clear that goodwill cannot coexist with sustained hostility. “if you had decades of terrorism there is no good neighborliness if there is no good neighborliness you don't get the benefits of that good neighborliness,” Jaishankar added.

Highlighting the contradiction between cooperation and conflict, he said, “you can't say I will you know, please share water with me,’ but ‘I will continue terrorism with you.’ That's not reconcilable.”

Jaishankar also pointed to India’s growing economic stature, noting that “India's growth is today a lifting tide,”