A succession of international summits this autumn has thrown into sharp relief the competing visions now vying to shape the global order. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the BRICS summit hosted by India in New Delhi produced starkly different tones: the SCO explicitly condemned U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran as violations of international law, while the more cautious BRICS declaration merely called for "maximum restraint" from all sides. The contrast underscores a broader tension between forums aligned with a multipolar, Global South agenda and a world increasingly driven by raw power dynamics — most visibly embodied in bilateral great-power meetings such as the expected summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. For India, the moment is particularly fraught. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the BRICS gathering — which India chaired under the slogan "Humanity First" — to call for transforming the Global South "from rule takers into rule-shapers," yet New Delhi's inclusive, people-centred vision sits awkwardly in a world splintering into bilateral and minilateral deals. As BRICS expands and risks drifting further into China's orbit, India faces a dilemma it has long sought to avoid: whether to preserve its strategic autonomy or find itself marginalised in the very forums it has championed.