India, Sept. 6 -- Former India ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf on Saturday rejected the idea that India needs to align with competing international camps, saying, New Delhi must act on the basis of its values and national interests.

His comments came day after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said India must pick between supporting Washington or aligning with Russia and China.

"Either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client, who is the American consumer, or I guess you're going to pay a 50% tariff. And let's see how long this lasts," Lutnick said in an interview to Bloomberg.

Upholding India's independent foreign policy, Jawed Ashraf said, "Indians and India need to get out of this mi...