Russia briefly had emerged a source of 'contention' between India and the US. But the right kind of balancing act and tightrope walking was done. Thus, this did not matter much to Joe Biden and his administration. Hence the issue did not figure to hit headlines during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent US visit.
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| snap credit AP/The Guardian |
Both Modi admirers and the opponents believe the optics of Modi being given full honours by the US president are also likely to play well to the Indian electorate. "Modi is expected to win a third term in office and his popularity is credited in part to an image among voters that he has made India into a respected player on the world stage and is now courted by powerful western leaders," says a piece in London-based 'The Guardian'.
Modi's supporters have an argument to convince themselves that India hardly got the due 'recognition' as a global player earlier under Congress and other regional-parties regimes; and now the Prime Minister has made a difference and New Delhi is much sought after in the comity of nations and is being a recognition and even 'role it deserved'.
Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, says, "Modi seems to believe that endorsements from the US, far from generating a backlash, generate a sense of optimism that this is India’s moment.” The same thought process is making Indian opposition parties crazy.
Therefore, it was not without good reasons that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had pitched in strongly trying to drive home a point in the United States days before PM's scheduled visit that minorities are not safe in India and that there were other human right limitations in India.
But to their utter frustration, the game flopped. The US played safe and cool and Biden performed as one of the best hosts in the world.
The Americans are most pragmatic people on the globe. Democracy and human rights do not matter to them more than 'their national interest'.
The US has been doing business comfortably with military dictators, quasi- or undemocratic countries. Ans so the glue that is binding the top levels of the two governments in Delhi and Washington will continue as 'together' they have to deal with the bigger question called China.
On this backrop, we have to take a closer view of the column in Pakistan's premier daily 'Dawn'.
"As with Zia, US now needs Modi", -- goes the headline of the article penned by Dawn's New Delhi representative Jawed Naqvi.
"As Pakistanis were handed falsehoods about the imminent restoration of democracy, its military ruler hanged the deposed prime minister and became a geopolitical plank to expel the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. The nexus became a significant factor in the eventual fall of the Soviet empire.
The question arises particularly after Modi’s state visit last week at President Joe Biden’s invitation whether, as with Zia in the 1970s-80s, he was also being courted to don a role for the US, with a view to somehow weaken China," says Naqvi.
However, irrespective of the argument made out in 'Dawn'; there are other facts of life that neither Narendra Modi nor Joe Biden can avoid.
In the US, the Indian diaspora is now one of the largest immigrant groups – second only to Mexicans – and its members occupy influential positions in tech, business, banking and law, and some have even become well-known faces in Hollywood -- as pointed out in 'The Guardian'.
On the other hand, India has benefited indirectly from its nuanced positioning on the Russia-Ukraine war. The Modi government went against US and even other Quad partners and declined to condemn Vladimir Putin's adventurism.
In the process, India has become the 'biggest buyer' of cheap Russian oil. This has an impact on Indian's economy at the time of recession and tough conditions on the financial front.
Observers say, though belated the 'consensus' among analysts is that the Biden administration has now accepted India’s "deep-rooted relationship Russia" -- all that is more of a legacy issue. The Modi-Putin friendship cannot be singled out.
Therefore, there is an appreciation to what India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar keeps saying, "India is always on the side of India's interest".
In fact, now it is also believed that it has even hastened US cooperation with India on defence to help New Delhi become less dependent on Russia.
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