India is moving from Unilateralism to Multilateralism - India is the true torch bearer of multipolar world
India, the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest one, got its independence from British Colonial Raj right after the Second World war on 15th August 1947. After Independence, there was tremendous pressure on India from both camps, the communist camp led by USSR (Former Russia) and the capitalistic camp led by the United States and its primary ally United Kingdom. So, India was in a dubious position about its place on the world map. Being sandwiched between two worlds India decided to create a new group named Non-Aligned Movement. Indian PM "Jawaharlal Nehru" was the torch-bearer of this group along with Yougslavian president "Josip Broz Tito" and Egyptian president "Gamal Abdel Nasser". But after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 the world moved from a Uni-polar world to a Multi-polar world. The world became globalized which means every country is more or less dependent on each other and a formidable supply chain has been created by the world to run its own economy. Seeing this development India slowly moved away from the Uni-Polar world since 1991's liberalization of the economy. In the Present day scenario, the world is fully interconnected, by keeping this as the main agenda India is forging a new alliance. India is moving away from Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment. India is not alone in this movement India is also helping others to make this world a multi-polar world or multi-align world.
How India is building this world into a livable and peaceful place by forming a multi-align world will be discussed as follows.
The first vessel relates to the need for greater realism in the policy.
After 1947 India was shocked by Pakistan when they attacked the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir and they captured two third of the state. But Nehru ignored the Pakistani intention of turning J&K into a strategically important post for the Pakistani army and his lackluster approach towards the J&K pushed the state into an unending breeding spot for terrorism.
Not even Pakistan, but China also took the advantage of India's lackluster foreign policy and they attacked and capture India's important Aksai Chin from the state of J&K in 1962. That proved disastrous for India's national security. India is paying the price for that policy even today because China does invade the Indian side from time to time since then. The recent Galwan incident is the best example where 20 Indian soldiers lost their life.
Although India made some horrendous mistakes interestingly, India did not shrink from the application force when required. India used its force in 1948 to liberate Hydrabad from heinous Rajakars and for Goa in 1961 to liberate it from Portugal. India never ran away from using military power to protect its own land and liberate a nation from dictators. India attacked Pakistan when Pakistan used clandestine tactics to take J&K away from India in 1965. India Invaded eastern Pakistan in 1971 to liberate the nation. A new nation was born and it is today's Bangladesh. Even after winning a great war after WW2 India signed a clandestine Simla Agreement with Pakistan in 1972. This was a sign of ignoring the strategic significance of J&K constantly which India was doing since its inception and Pakistan took advantage of it in a great way. Between 1947 to 1975 India witnessed a really weak & apologetic Foreign Policy ignoring the reality of the world environment.
The second vessel is the Economic counterpart
It well-known fact to the nations that without an economy foreign policy doesn't even exist or it doesn't matter at all because world power will never give impetus to such a nation that is economically puny. Let's take Burundi as an example, How many of you know about Burundi? Have you ever heard of this nation? maybe you know this nation because its currency is the world's weakest currency even weaker than Afghanistan and its economy is one of the smallest and weakest. So, how does its participation in any group of the world draw any attention from world powers like the USA, Russia, China, or India? Therefore to leave the footmark on the world stage any nation needs a strong economy and along with that strong economy that economy also needs a world-class infrastructure and talent pool to draw investments from different countries of the world.
Look at the Asian Tigers that include Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea & Taiwan. All of these nations are very smaller in size some are the size of Burundi But they are very important nations for the world because of their aggressive development in every front like infrusture, semiconductor industry, banking & human resource. Along with these, they diversified their economy long back in the 1990s. They draw talents from across the world.
India developed aggressively after Independence, India built some steel plants with the help of the USSR, and it also build some world-class educational institutes but it lost its way due to weak internal and external policies. Additionally, after 1991 China became the new economical challenger of India when they opened their economy and developed their nation with the help of the American dollar. This affects India's growth in a negative way.
The next vessel is all about maximizing options & expand space naturally requires multiple players
Although India was far behind because of its Non-Alignment policy but India realized the concept of Multi-Polar right after China's 1962 invasion. Conceptually Indian foreign policy was independent because we nurture the concept of independence from our freedom struggle. But our goal was far from reach because running away from one can't be compensated by another overnight.
That is exactly what happened in 1971, When India was liberating Bangladesh from Autocratic West Pakistan then world democratic powers supported autocratic Pakistan but India was able to manage its support from an autocratic nation USSR. This is a great example of expanding space and maximizing options which is what India is doing in today's geopolitics. India is a member of QUAD, in which the USA is a partner of India along with Japan and Australia. India is also a member of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) where the arch-rival of the USA, Russia, and China shares the same place with India. So, India is hedging between the poles, like the way India is dealing with Saudia-Arabia & Iran or Iran & Israel or Russia & USA. From ancient times foreign policy is not about arithmetic its all about calculus. It will finally produce some results after some waiting if every variable behaves as it should.
The next vessel is very important because it's all about commendable diplomacy
It is also the natural accompaniment to the heading. It is an unshakable truth that a low-risk policy is only like to prove limited awards it will never produce any great results until challenges become exigent.
Look at today's scenario India is buying natural gas, discounted oil, and every other necessary thing from Russia even after stiff western resistance. India defies every dictation of the west and does everything to protect its citizen from economical disasters in this toxic war environment. India is taking these decisions because India is one of the largest economies, the world's fastest-growing economy and India have a valiant foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Mr. Jaishankar is protecting India from every vile and abusive advice that is being thrown by western media and western governments. He is working like a shield and the Rama of today's era in Indian diplomacy. His views are based on realism, broad prospect, and multiple unorthodox variables, which were once untouchable for Indian ministers but for him all are touchable for the nation's duty.
India is gaining influence in world politics and diplomacy because India is following the path of Paradiplomacy. In Paradiplomacy, Every Indian state and city is free to make contact with any nation on earth for the interest of the state. India brought diplomacy to the next level by promoting its liberal diplomatic policy and amicability to any nation irrespective of its significance in world geopolitics.
0 Comments