As the long shadow on the year lengthens, and his third straight term as India’s prime minister beckons, prime minister Narendra Modi has reasons to value Vladimir Putin’s recent high praise.
Putin “can’t imagine that Modi could be frightened, intimidated or forced to take any actions, steps, decisions that would be at variance with the national interests of India and the Indian people.”
These are the words of a nationalist towards another nationalist, not on a petty politician looking for electoral victory alone, fattening cronies and family, burning or surrendering a paradise, severing one-third of a nation or looking the other way when your financial capital is held hostage for nights by terrorists who arrive on a ferry and shoot everyone in sight.
To be fair, India was friends with Soviet Union even in the times of Nehru dynasty in the so-called democratic India but this is a New Russia and a New India, Putin and Modi are leaders unlike their supine predecessors who delivered whatever took the fancy of the globalists (The truth on 2008 India-US nuclear deal some other day). So servile that when asked “jump”, they said “how high.”
Putin’s other words on Modi too bear a repetition: “I just look at what is happening from the outside, and sometimes, frankly speaking, I am even surprised at his (Modi’s) tough stance on defending the national interests of the Indian state.”
Putin of course is speaking in geopolitical context so let’s look at how Modi has defended India’s interests: There are one too many.
Ukraine probably was the sternest when the West queued up to browbeat New Delhi in condemning Russia’s “aggression”. Some of the blunt words which India’s foreign minister Dr. S. Jaishankar used— hemmed in by US heavyweights Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin at times, or UK prime minister Liz Truss, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock or even US president Joe Biden’s “somewhat shaky” snub— it only echoed Modi’s unbending spirit.
It mirrored a leader who was willing to risk the trade advantage with the United States or the latter’s security umbrella if China turns the water around choppy; not just for buying Russian oil on favourable terms but also upholding the UN Charter as he does with the Indian Constitution, never mind the provocation which comes from “rogue” states or judiciary.
He stood up to China on Doklam or after Galwan Valley; taught Pakistan some surgical lessons; brought to Canada some home truths —and though he would chase terrorists down to the nether world, it won’t be as indiscriminatory as is being pursued by Benjamin Netanyahu: Our recent vote on humanitarian cessation in Gaza, without insistence on reference to Hamas, is a stunning stance in many ways given how US would’ve loved India by his side. It’s instructive to remember even Germany and the United Kingdom preferred absentation avoiding tilting either way.
I like the way Modi has leveraged India vis a vis Saudi Arabia or UAE; how India more and more is seen as a friend by the African states; how India steps ahead of the line when it comes to offering vaccines, medicines, financial or humanitarian aid worldwide, unmindful if it’s an irritable Turkey or a Pakistan, if flood-ravaged. Resisting Ukraine in G20 Declaration when the biggies came in droves was sweet. And yes, walking hand-in-hand with China to shape the multipolar world, taking in stride the differences.
All this when India could’ve easily buckled down for the US is known to carry out its formidable threats: It could sow domestic unrest, inflame religious divides, bring its financial heft to bear; sanctions are never too far off as are 100% import tariffs. Western media is puppet to them as is the obeisance of the Indian mainstream media. Keeping the United States by side is a vastly convenient option than crossing its path. Only those ideologically committed, morally upright, proud and fearless to the reprisals could do it.
Please don’t drive home the point that India is letting the United States dictate its policy towards Iran: Most of Iran’s oil was imported by Indian firms who can’t be dictated commercial terms by the New Delhi. These firms do worry about the resultant sanctions from the United States. Otherwise, India-Iran-Russia’s INSTC is blossoming, as are exports, the hum at Chabahar Port on a long-term deal is louder as is the beefing up of rupee vostro account.
It’s a tricky balance to keep India’s growth trajectory going and yet hold off the West’s predatory goals which run contrary to India’s. The media won’t pay heed when Modi says in the parliament that today’s decisions could shape India for the next 1,000 years: But we must do.
It’s kiddish to believe India would grow without paying a price. Some nations pay this price with civil war, some with partition or others with economic maelstrom. There are always fifth columns within a society who have a price tag to wreck the country from within. If all fails, assassinations are set in motion so that puppets could replace and rule on globalists’ behalf. Invisible germs can take over entire organisms. The Hegemon has jackals and hyenas aplenty.
Modi won’t be there forever, nor the admirable Dr S. Jaishankar who echoes him; those next in line would have to walk on fire, so exacting would be the pressure. Let’s hope the BJP in Modi’s mould stays in power for decades and that too with absolute majority. If they are worthy, it’s for us Indians to empower them every five years, decade after decade.
(P.S: If Mr Modi is reading this, my one request is to strengthen the ideological incubation of civil society, of writers, thinkers, authors, journalists who would otherwise be drowned out. They are the amplifiers who never let a society take its eyes off. Be mindful that running wilds are never too far off a manicured garden.)
