{"id":37948,"date":"2026-09-14T16:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/brics-summit-viral-photo-modi-putin-xi-jinping-siddharth-babu\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T16:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:21:22","slug":"brics-summit-viral-photo-modi-putin-xi-jinping-siddharth-babu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/brics-summit-viral-photo-modi-putin-xi-jinping-siddharth-babu\/","title":{"rendered":"BRICS Summit Viral Photo | Modi, Putin, Xi Jinping & Siddharth Babu"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A picture from the BRICS summit is currently in the news. In it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen holding hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

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As the picture of the three leaders went viral, the camera also captured the attention of a young Indian officer standing behind them. The officer standing between three powerful world leaders is Siddharth Babu. He is a 36-year-old Indian Foreign Service (IFS) <\/strong>officer and currently holds an important position in the Ministry of External Affairs.<\/p>\n

What was Siddharth Babu\u2019s responsibility while standing between three leaders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu is a 2017-batch IFS officer. He is currently working as Deputy Secretary in the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. During the BRICS summit, he was assisting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

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Siddharth Babu knows Chinese and was helping PM Modi understand Xi Jinping during the conversation. This is why he was seen standing behind the three leaders during the important discussion.<\/p>\n

Where does Siddharth Babu live and what did he study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu is from Kochi, Kerala. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Mar Athanasius College of Engineering in 2012.<\/p>\n

After completing his studies, he worked in the e-commerce sector. He later developed an interest in international relations and began preparing for the civil services examination.<\/p>\n

He could not clear the examination in his first attempt. However, in his second attempt, he secured All India Rank 15 and opted for the Indian Foreign Service.<\/p>\n

How did four years in China prepare Siddharth Babu?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu began his diplomatic career as an officer trainee in New Delhi in December 2017. His first foreign posting was in Beijing, China. From 2018 to 2022, he worked there, first as Third Secretary and later as Second Secretary.<\/p>\n

During his four-year posting in Beijing, he strengthened his command of Chinese. He also gained experience in understanding and working on China-related matters. This experience later became important in his responsibilities at the Ministry of External Affairs.<\/p>\n

What responsibilities has Siddharth Babu handled in America?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After his Beijing posting, Siddharth Babu was posted as a consul in California from August 2022 to June 2024. During this period, he also pursued a master\u2019s degree in language interpretation and translation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.<\/p>\n

He returned to New Delhi in 2024 and worked as an Under Secretary. In January 2025, he took charge as Deputy Secretary in the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs.<\/p>\n

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Has Siddharth Babu helped PM Modi in talks before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not the first time Siddharth Babu has appeared in a viral picture involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has previously been seen interpreting during an important conversation involving PM Modi.<\/p>\n

He was posted on the VIP stage during India\u2019s 77th Republic Day celebrations in January. At the time, he interpreted the conversation between Prime Minister Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This shows that he already has experience handling language-related responsibilities during high-level meetings.<\/p>\n

How did the viral picture highlight officials working behind the scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The BRICS picture attracted attention mainly because of the casual moment between Prime Minister Modi, Putin and Xi Jinping. However, the same picture also highlighted the role of officials who work behind the scenes during meetings between world leaders.<\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu\u2019s responsibility is similar. Such officers play an important role in helping leaders understand conversations in different languages and facilitating communication. The viral picture gave people a glimpse into how officials work behind the scenes during major diplomatic discussions.<\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu\u2019s journey from engineer to diplomat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Siddharth Babu\u2019s journey began with engineering and later took him to the Indian Foreign Service, where he now works alongside some of the world\u2019s most powerful leaders.<\/p>\n

He studied engineering, worked in the e-commerce sector and then prepared for the civil services examination. After failing in his first attempt, he secured 15th rank in his second attempt and chose the IFS.<\/p>\n

His four-year posting in China, knowledge of Chinese and further studies in translation strengthened his experience. Now, his presence behind Prime Minister Modi in the viral BRICS picture has brought him into the spotlight.<\/p>\n

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A picture from the BRICS summit is currently in the news. In it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen holding hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. As the picture of the three leaders went viral, the camera also captured the attention of a young Indian officer standing behind them. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34379,38100,24289,131,38099,34777,31826,31825],"class_list":["post-37948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-brics-summit","tag-ifs-officer","tag-ministry-of-external-affairs","tag-narendra-modi","tag-siddharth-babu","tag-viral-photo","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}