India will always back Russia as they have backed India till date there is no Balancing Act with anyone else
It seems desperate diplomats and journalists are either trying to take pot shots at India or hoping against hope that somehow India will ditch Russia and join the American bandwagon.
Firstly India charters its own independent policies, secondly it is not in the Russian camp, thirdly it will not ditch Russia a close friend and fourthly it will never join the Western camp.
India’s official position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is very clear, as India does not support any kind of war. So Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly expressed his views to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him that “this is not the era for war.” However this does not mean that we will ditch our friend Russia and join the Western band wagon. India will never forget that wretched Nixon sending the USS Enterprise led Flotilla into Bay of Bengal during the 1971 Indo Pak War and his friend in UK sending a few British ships into the Arabian sea to intimidate India.
Therefore when Western crowd tried to pressurize Russia in the UN, India, as a member of the UN Security Council, abstained on a vote condemning Moscow’s Liberation of Russian speaking territory within Ukraine. Prime Minister Modi also told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that there was “no military solution” to the conflict – just as the Ukrainian army had gained a few enclaves in parts of north-eastern and southern areas which have already been liberated by the Russians.
To questions being asked by actually confused people or people deliberately acting confused against this very clear stand, India has a very clear answer: India will do what is in its own interests. This is a proposition, on which even Western countries have been acting in similar manner, so even if they disagree, India does not care.
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has clearly articulated that “we draw our conclusions and make our assessments. … We have a decent sense of what is in our interest and know how to protect it and advance it.”
India’s stated values in international relations, including under Prime Minister Modi, have traditionally attached the highest importance to sovereignty. Now India too has learnt that cold-eyed evaluation of the national interest must trumps everything, especially mushy articles churned out by Western Press.
A few Western journalists argue that” Russia will end 2022 a far less attractive partner to India than it was at the year’s beginning. Its appeal as a source of weapons has been shot to hell in Kiev, Kharkiv and now Kherson”.
Well should we start depending on American equipment after seeing how Sabres were brought down by Gnats in 1965 and Pattons getting whacked by Vijayantas and the Russian T55s in 1971 ? The quite recent downing of F16 by MiG 21 is still fresh in Indian minds. So need for anyone to lecture India on these things. We are making our own weapons but for sometime to come we will get them from elsewhere too.
India can also fully rely on Russian hydrocarbons even in the long-term, meanwhile we have reached out for short-term bargains too over the past months in terms of low prices. We will reach out to Iran also if they agree to play ball. Above all, India prizes global stability, and now can easily judge who are the profoundly destabilising forces in the international arena.
Indians have also noticed,, the deliberate behaviour from the US. The Biden administration, reversing a decision by its predecessor, recently announced a $450 million deal to help Pakistan refurbish its fleet of F-16s. Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, spent last week in the US, receiving a guard of honour and a 21-gun salute at the Pentagon. These things do not shake us anymore. Pakistan can at best be a pinprick to India. We are now ready to take on China if push comes to shove any time.
And, in a gesture that was calculated to infuriate Indians, the US Ambassador to Pakistan travelled to the illegally occupied side of Kashmir last week. Not only did he and the embassy repeatedly call the area by its official Pakistani title of “Azad (Free) Jammu and Kashmir,” he also tweeted his visit to a bungalow associated with Pakistan’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. In New Delhi, all this comes across as a quite unsubtle dig. Well Indians will have the last when in the foreseeable future the then US ambassador may be called as a guest to Tri colour hoisting ceremony in Gilgit.
The US may feel it has justifiable reasons to complain about India’s position on Ukraine, but it would be wiser not to do so by transparently cosying up to Pakistan. Every now and then someone in Washington thinks it is time to reset relations with Islamabad, and within a decade their successors discover it was a terrible idea.
Meanwhile, Americans should also consider Indian position that we are not trying to alienate the US and the West but just pursuing our independent policies. In any case presently the West needs us more than we need them. Also they should chew on the scenario of India and China shaking hands on everything that matters.
