India’s Rise And International Discomfort

Even the Prime Minister would have been amused by how events played out in the Maldives following his seemingly innocuous post from the Lakshadweep isles last week. The velocity at which the Maldivian response swung from defiance to outright insult to embarrassment would have, no doubt, left the Indian side enjoying a private chuckle or two.

This is not the first time that we have seen such unwarranted, aggressive responses from outside the country on matters concerning India.

Just in the recent past, we have seen various members of the international community take indefensible positions against India on issues like the Ukraine War, vaccines, the Farm Laws, CAA, responses to Khalistani and Islamic terrorism, etc.

It is to the credit of the nation’s political leadership that such challenges have been handled deftly and, at times, even turned into successes.

In fact, many a time, India’s capacity to manoeuver completely unexpected victories for itself, from the prickliest of situations, has taken both national and international observers by complete surprise - the strategic victory at Doklam, the hammering out of a completely unexpected G20 New Delhi Declaration, and the continuing purchase of oil from Russia being a few prominent examples.

Even so, it would not be incorrect to say that the international community is yet to give due credit to the work that India has done in terms of internal governance, macro-economic stability, and geopolitical balancing during today’s turbulent times.

A perfect example for this would be the nation’s management of Covid.

At a time when most nations went to the extremes (in both directions) while handling the epidemic, India’s balanced response to the spread of the disease and the economic uncertainty around it has very few parallels anywhere else in the world.

The combination of keeping death rates low for an incredibly large population, the distribution of free vaccines for over a billion people, and maintaining economic stability without any social churn would have been the stuff of legends had it been the case of a Western nation. If it had been one of the Left’s favourite Nordic countries, we probably would never have heard the end of it.

For anyone attempting to understand why there has been this reticence to acknowledge India's achievements and, at times, even to manufacture imaginary grievances directed at what has been a responsible member of the rules-based world order, there is one, most obvious reason: political ideology.

The leftist orientations of the international elite often run in direct contradiction to the ideologies of the current Indian dispensation.

But even beyond that, there is also the fact that India and the nature of its recent rise are anomalies in the world order today. This poses a challenge for an international community that values predictability, as it grapples with a situation outside its usual realm of experience.

The geopolitical landscape of the post-World War-II world has been predominantly characterized by blocs, initially revolving around the American and Russian poles during the Cold War and later evolving into a dynamic between the United States and an ascendant China. In this global scenario, major players are anticipated to align themselves either as leaders of a bloc or as one of its members. The strategic positioning within these blocs significantly influences international relations and power dynamics on the world stage.

Here, India has consciously chosen to be an outlier - positioning itself uniquely as a friend of all but a groupie of none.

A sign of this is how India has leveraged its economic strength to navigate the complex terrain of the US-China rivalry and use it for its advantage.

Rather than aligning unequivocally with either power, India has pursued a nuanced and self-interest-driven approach, capitalizing on its economic significance and leveraging the deep mistrust that exists between both nations for its benefit.

Additionally, India has cultivated its own sphere of influence - ranging from the Gulf states, the Asia-Pacific, South America to the African nations. This is in addition to the partnerships which have been made directly with various members of both the US and Chinese blocks, creating another layer of influence.

The best demonstration of India’s refusal to play ball by someone else’s rules has been the manner in which the successful negotiations to buy Russian oil were conducted with minimal blowback despite intense international pressure to tow the NATO line on Ukraine.

While India’s geographical and economic strengths have ensured that the world order cannot challenge it beyond a point, you always get the feeling that foreign diplomats are tearing their hair out in private when it comes to dealing with India. Ironically, the world leader who seems to have best understood India’s distinctive position is Vladimir Putin - who, in various public forums, has alluded to India’s singular standing in the world order, the nation’s unique negotiation tactics derived from its age-old culture and his admiration for the way India conducts its foreign policy.

As mentioned above, a large part of the leverage that India is able to use on the global stage has been due to its economic strength. And even here, India’s case does not follow preset patterns.

Global economics over the past few years have marked nations veering into extremes, either driven by ideology or local politics. India has pandered to neither. Primarily driven by the Prime Minister’s practical approach to economics, India has ensured targeted social spending, capital expenditure in infrastructure, and a calculated approach to freeing markets.

Adherence to ideological persuasions around Keynes or Friedman have not been part of the priorities. Neither have been local political pressures, which often have a larger-than-anticipated effect on macro-economic stability.

The common trend among economies is to first transition to agriculture, then to manufacturing and finally onto services. The legacy of successive years of colonial rule and then the hotchpotch of Nehruvian economics created a situation where India progressed on none of the three fronts - the result being that, under a more purposeful administration, India is poised to progress on all three almost simultaneously today.

This is an opportunity that the businesses which drive major Western nations can scarcely afford to miss.

Finally, perhaps the one characteristic that makes India most unique in a global context - even more than both its foreign policy and economic position - is that of its native culture and how its current national dispensation chooses to define the nation through it.

Unlike many native cultures globally that succumbed to the impact of Abrahamic colonization, India stands out as a rare exception. The rich tapestry of its native Dharmic culture, deeply rooted in diverse belief systems, has endured the test of time and the cruelest of assaults.

India's cultural landscape, marked by its intricacies and depth, defies the simplistic binary narratives prevalent in the contemporary woke discourse. The nation's cultural resilience and complexity challenge the oversimplified perspectives of today's world, creating the need for a more nuanced understanding of India's intricate tapestry of beliefs and traditions.

This is, however, a need that existing power structures in the world are distinctly uncomfortable with - particularly when it is accompanied by an assertive intent driven by India’s self-interest.

This situation is accentuated by the cultural revival that has been undertaken in India by the Narendra Modi government. For decades the world saw India, mostly ruled by the Congress-Left consensus, adopt a meek international policy while simultaneously creating an establishment intended to keep the more assertive and nationalistic urges of the nation at bay domestically.

This was an India that the world order was used to and found more agreeable  - something that can be seen from the relative comfort that the international community demonstrated during the initial days of the Manmohan Singh government when India experienced economic growth and an increase in international standing.

Undoubtedly this was because, during these times, the UPA continued to follow a passive global strategy and more tellingly, purposefully played down any cultural or nationalistic sentiments using the veneer of secularism and liberalism.

In a departure from previous administrations, the Modi government has strategically placed cultural rejuvenation at the forefront of its policies, especially in its second term. This shift has harnessed the latent energy stemming from these cultural impulses to cultivate a domestic support base for a confident India, embracing its rich civilizational heritage.

The newness and novelty of this approach, coupled with the global community's limited comprehension of India's cultural fulcrum—Hinduism—and the distinctive nature of Hindu faith from the more prevalent Abrahamic paradigms of religion and nationalism, has precipitated a palpable unease within the international arena regarding the ascent of this redefined India.

For centuries, Indians have lived through times when they knew that the nation's potential had not been fulfilled. After years, it seems as though the stars have aligned for this dormant giant of a civilization to rise again.

However, it is also important to realize that, for the reasons stated above, India’s rise is not one that the entire world will celebrate. Because, if successful, it will create a world power that is distinct from any seen in recent memory.

So, while an interesting journey does lie ahead, the nation must also realize that there may be some turbulence along the way.