Amid a myriad of global reactions and international media coverage over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Delhi Riots, Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said that through these reports, India is actually getting to know who its 'friends' really are.

When asked at an event in Delhi about global reactions on CAA and other developments, Jaishankar said, "Maybe we are getting to know, who our friends really are."

#WATCH External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at Global Business Summit in Delhi, on being asked 'are we losing our friends(in the world)?: Maybe we are getting to know who our friends really are... pic.twitter.com/StVz9w4BrG March 7, 2020

The minister explained, "It is kind of a geopolitical assessment. There was a time when India was very defensive - our capabilities were less, our risks were higher. We mostly adopted a policy of non-interference. We cannot do that anymore. We are the fifth-largest economy in the world. Soon we will become the third-largest. The nature of the world has changed."

He added, "As we get more capable, as our confidence level goes up and as our interest in the world grows, we have to do management in a different way. We have to engage everybody. It is a kind of portfolio management, you spread your bets, and get the best."

Iran has been most vocal in its reaction to the recent developments in India. Iran's Supreme Leader Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei and foreign minister Javad Zarif in a tweet condemned the recent developments in India.

Khamenei in a tweet said, "The hearts of Muslims all over the world are grieving over the massacre of Muslims in India. The govt of India should confront extremist Hindus & their parties & stop the massacre of Muslims in order to prevent India’s isolation from the world of Islam."

The Delhi riots issue was also discussed in the British Parliament. Indonesia had raised the matter with the Indian envoy to Jakarta, and protests have taken place in countries like Bangladesh. Even the Democratic presidential candidate in the US, Bernie Sanders, had tweeted about the Delhi Riots, slamming US President Donald Trump for not raising the matter during his visit to India. While talking about his Brussels visit last month when he met 27 foreign ministers of the European Union, Jaishankar said, "The point that we made in CAA.. it can't be in any other case that a government and parliament has the right to set the terms of naturalization and citizenship. Every government and parliament does that".

The minister further said, "We have a large number of stateless people in this country and we have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through the legislation. That should be appreciated. And we have done it in a way that we don't end up creating a bigger problem for ourselves. Show me one country in the world that says everyone in the world is welcomed. Look at the Americans, look at Europeans."