Azad quits, Congress slumps deeper, Gupkar lobby in distress; it’s advantage BJP as J&K heads closer to polls

From being the grand old party of India that ruled the nation for more than six decades to have reduced itself to a sorry shadow of its former self, the comprehensive saga of the Indian National Congress (INC) today stands marred by constant political depreciation since the onset of the Modi era in 2014. 

A political organisation shackled by the chains of nepotism and family supremacy has in recent history seen some of its tallest leaders, young and veterans alike, abandoning the sinking ship. 

Outgoing leaders have been blunt in criticising the lack of vision at the core leadership level of the party; some lamenting unwarranted snubbing after years of service or the absence of a transparent and democratic environment within the Congress to hold the Gandhis accountable for their ineffectiveness to consolidate the party and steer it in the right direction.

The latest abandoner has been the long-term Congress loyalist Ghulam Nabi Azad, serving another body blow to the party’s chances of revival with his exit. Mincing no words in his resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Azad had attributed his departure to the sidelining of senior leaders and the increasing sway of a "coterie of inexperienced sycophants”. 

image source : odishatv.in

With Azad’s abdication shortly followed by the embarrassment Ashok Gehlot had to face in Rajasthan over the disciplinary action taken against his key MLAs for bypassing the party high command, the Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ that turned out to be a lacklustre media spectacle at best and, more recently, the new Congress president election which is hardly expected to bring a change in fortune for the declining party - the ceaseless plummeting of the Congress’s relevance and clout across India has a plethora of ramifications.

Strictly in the context of Jammu and Kashmir, the politics of the region from an electoral calculus standpoint has gone through a massive rejig courtesy of Ghulam Nabi Azad floating his own Democratic Azad Party (DAP). It is fascinating to witness how Congress’s slump at a national level has caused such a profound effect on J&K that the UT’s political landscape now looks like a rearranged chessboard with DAP into the mix.

Azad Effect 

Azad, a former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J&K and a stalwart in his own right, may end up making big gains as the UT gears up for polls which are likely to take place in the coming six to eight months. 

The Delimitation Commission issued its final order earlier in May, adding seven new seats to the J&K legislative assembly to take its tally up from the previous strength of 83 to 90. Six new seats were allotted to the Hindu-majority Jammu region, increasing its representation from 37 to 43 seats while one seat was added to the Muslim-majority Kashmir which now has 47 seats in the redesigned assembly. 

Post the culmination of the delimitation process, the Election Commission asked for a special summary report of electoral rolls with November 25 as the deadline for the publication of the final electoral roll. This has ruled out the possibility of holding the election towards the end of this year. Incidentally, this situation augurs ever so well for DAP as it gives its founder Azad, the newest player in J&K’s game of thrones, enough time to strengthen his ground presence. 

image source : outlookindia.com

On the other hand, Azad’s entry into the macro scheme of things in J&K only a few months ahead of the polls puts other players, namely the Gupkar alliance and the Apni Party at a potential disadvantage. After the scrapping of J&K’s special status, the sheen has substantially worn off for the two heavyweights, the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Azad throwing his hat into the ring at a critical juncture will in all probability dent the chances of resurrection for the NC and the PDP greatly. 

J&K’s new political calculus  

In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, there was an exodus of a number of political leaders mainly from the PDP to Syed Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party inspite of the fact that the former had emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the 2014 J&K assembly elections. 

image source : hindustantimes.com

It should not come as a major surprise if the Apni Party this time around, or for that matter, the NC and the PDP, meet a similar fate again by losing some of their personnel to the DAP in the run-up to the polls. As far as the Congress is concerned, it has shrunk to an even lesser fringe political party in J&K after many of its senior regional leaders left the party to join Azad. 

Although Azad will have a significant advantage in the districts of Rajouri and Poonch along with Muslim-dominated parts of the Chenab valley and Pir Panjal but he could well turn out to be a choice for the Hindu vote bank in Jammu mainly because of his non-communal and development-orientated image. His clean track record, besides being somebody who, unlike the Abdullahs and the Muftis, does not carry the baggage of separatist or Pakistan-sympathising sentiments works immensely in his favour. 

image source : hindustantimes.com

Azad-Modi bonhomie  

In his media briefings and interactions with the people of J&K after snapping ties with the Congress, Azad has been categorical about the impossibility of the reinstatement of Article 370, thereby painting a realistic picture before the Kashmiri people and falsifying the Gupkar lobby’s fake claims and promises of restoring J&K’s former status made purely for electoral benefits.

Consequently, it becomes unambiguous that Azad is leaning towards the Modi government’s narrative of Naya Jammu and Kashmir. Even at an interpersonal level, the relationship between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cordial and one of mutual respect when the former was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and continues to remain the same. 

Hence, the forging of an alliance between the BJP and the DAP to counter the Gupkar lobby could be on the cards, depending of course on several factors, albeit neither side would give the other anything on a platter. 

image source : udayvani.com

Notwithstanding that the NC and the PDP managed to taste success in the 2020 DDC polls by fielding joint candidates, the assembly election will be a different ball game altogether. 

With Azad in the mix now and a lot of time left before J&K goes to the polls, the Gupkar alliance appears to be on shaky ground with regard to its unity and power. Whether this situation translates into an electoral triumph in J&K for the BJP or a superlative performance for the debutant DAP or an ascent to power for a BJP-DAP combine, only time will tell, but the way things are unfolding at the moment certainly puts Modi’s BJP and Azad’s DAP in the driver’s seat.

Disparaging the sanctity of 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign in the run-up to India’s historic 75th Independence Day will cost Kashmir’s Gupkar lobby dearly, both politically and existentially

India is approaching its 75th independence day. August 15 will mark the celebration of a new India that has announced itself on the world stage as a global leader and a force to be reckoned with.

The month of August this year holds a special significance because of another historic reason. The revocation of Article 370 and 35A will complete three years on August 5 following the momentous development that took place in the Parliament of India in 2019, ushering in a new era of incontrovertible and unambiguous integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the union of India. 

As part of a nationwide programme under the aegis of its ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Government of India (GoI) recently launched the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, a symbolic gesture of patriotism expected of all Indians who love and revere their motherland, in the run-up to August 15 to embolden the spirit of nationalism in the country.

image source : thehindu.com

Har Ghar Tiranga is a purely apolitical campaign aimed at encouraging the people of India to engage in an act of personal connection with the Tricolour that invokes the feeling of patriotism and emphasises our honour for the national flag as much as it echoes our commitment to nation-building. However, the separatist-leaning political class of Kashmir comprising the National Conference (NC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), among others, pathetically enough, found brazen ways to sully the sanctity of the Har Ghar Tiranga movement. 

PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti, made ludicrous claims that the central government and the J&K UT administration had been forcing students, shopkeepers and employees to buy national flags. This was after an allegation regarding traders and business owners in south Kashmir being warned of consequences for refusing to deposit money for the tricolours started doing the rounds. 

Mufti, along with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and the Gupkar alliance spokesperson Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, shared unverified videos on Twitter showing loudspeaker announcements made in Bijbehara asking shopkeepers to deposit rupees 20 each for the Indian flags. Mehbooba went on to accuse the Modi government of treating Kashmir as an adversary territory and trying to impose patriotism on local Kashmiris by virtue of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. 

image source : english.metrovaartha.com

Nevertheless, senior voices in the J&K administration extended a quick clarification, suggesting that the announcements in the purported videos were made improperly and an inquiry had been ordered into the matter to ascertain whether it was a mistake or mischief. That was it. 

The controversy should have been laid to rest there and then by the Kashmiri politicians in the interest of the build-up towards India’s 75th Independence Day, a country they pretend to bear allegiance to in order to stay in business. But the Gupkar lobby clearly just wanted to vitiate the atmosphere days before the August 15 celebrations in Kashmir by besmirching the Har Ghar Tiranga movement. 

These duplicitous political voices in the valley, who have been reduced to shadows of their former selves in the post-Article 370 abolishment era, have resorted to disinformation tactics and the practice of demonising the Modi government and the J&K administration as the recourse to maintain their relevance in the current scenario. 

Nationalism paramount

That said above, the conspicuous exhibition of disrespect towards the tricolour at the hands of the Gupkar lobby augurs well from the nationalistic perspective in terms of exposing the alliance further. On the one hand, is the nationalism-driven Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Government of India and on the other hand, is the separatism-subscribing political class of Kashmir; when juxtaposed, the contrast becomes as vivid as it can get. While the former has scripted itself as the protagonist of J&K’s long overdue divorce from a dubious status that challenged the region’s identity as an integral part of India, the latter, despite its overt secessionist preferences, has been a recipient for decades of the enormous benefits connected with being part of the Indian political ecosystem. 

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in his J&K visit late last month, reiterated that the Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) was a part of India and pitched for reclaiming the territory. Hence, it is ironic that despite the Modi government having constantly upped the ante in the last couple of years, the leaders of the PDP, the NC and the likes continue to sell the false hope of reinstatement of J&K’s erstwhile status to those they deem to be their vote bank. 

image source : indiatvnews.com

The narrative has long evolved from whether or not J&K indisputably belongs to India to when the GoI will eventually put the foot on the gas to restore POJK into India where it rightfully belongs; therefore, the Gupkar lobby needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Although the lobby deep down is cognizant of the fact that J&K will never revert to the pre-Article 370 revocation period yet they are desperate to breathe life back into the shattered narrative of Kashmir being a political issue that can be resolved through dialogue with Pakistan.

Gupkar lobby’s self-goal

As making statements or spearheading activities with separatist overtones caters to their brand of politics, it is, thus, no surprise at all that the Gupkar alliance has hit a new low by questioning the authenticity of the Modi government’s Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. However, they have ended up scoring a self-goal in the process as the right-thinking Kashmiri population has awakened to the fact that anything which is not pro India cannot be pro Kashmir. 

The central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has directed the party’s J&K leaders to be in ready-mode for the imminent assembly polls. It is evident that the BJP will fight this election on the basis of a mutually interdependent ‘development and nationalism’ combination offered by the party and the J&K administration since the scrapping of the controversial law in August 2019. 

image source : thestatesman.com

The people of Jammu and Kashmir who want a stable and prosperous region have accepted this combination with great pride and love for their nation India. As a consequence, insulting the Tiranga or employing similar other tricks will only do the Gupkar lobby more harm than good, both politically and existentially.  

Modi government must act befittingly and robustly against terror forces amid growing discontent among Kashmiri Pandits following the rise in targeted killings of Hindus in Kashmir

The recent months have been an emotional roller coaster ride for the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community. The Kashmir Files (TKF) movie reopened a million wounds inflicted on every KP soul by Islamic terrorists in their bid to wipe Hindus out of Kashmir. 

Following the stellar success of the much-awaited movie and the unprecedented manner in which it galvanised the whole nation, an unabated offensive was unleashed by the Hinduphobic pseudo-secular lobby against the makers of TKF and all those who supported it, the political and the apolitical class alike.  

Consequently, even while celebrating the brave attempt of an audacious filmmaker to awaken India like never before about the horrors of ethnic cleansing that the Pandit community has faced, KPs had to wage a parallel battle against the lobby to ensure that the impact and the glory of TKF were not compromised because of the latter’s false propaganda against it. 

If all this wasn’t overwhelming enough, a pattern of targeted Kashmiri Pandit killings, which started with the cold-blooded murder of a KP employee, Rahul Bhat, inside his office in Budgam by terrorists on May 12, has served as a grim reminder that Hindus continue to be slaughtered in Kashmir even in this new era of hope and change.

image source : theweek.in

Following the gruesome killing of Rahul Bhat, a series of similar bloody episodes have surfaced in Kashmir in the last month and a half. From the gunning down of the 36-year-old Kashmiri Pandit teacher Rajni Bala in her school premises in Kulgam on May 31 to another broad daylight murder in Kulgam just two days later of a bank employee named Vijay Kumar from Rajasthan, Hindus are being targeted left, right and centre in the valley by the Islamist forces. 

Terror outfits issuing open threat letters against Kashmiri Pandits, warning them to flee the valley yet again or face death, is atrociously reminiscent of the ugly scenes of the late 80s and the early 90s when KPs were forced to leave their native land in order to save their lives.  

On the other hand, among those in Kashmir who are not being spared either are Kashmiri Muslims whose loyalties lie with the Indian union, Muslims who dare to transcend the hardline Islamic codes and even the poor non-muslim migrant labourers. The brutal killings of the 35-year-old TV artist Amreen Bhat in Budgam and constable Reyaz Ahmad Thokar in Pulwama earlier in May affirm that the radicals are going all out in their extermination spree to create a toxic atmosphere of mayhem and trepidation in Kashmir. 

The fact of the matter is that the targeting of Kashmiri Pandits and nationalists of all faiths in the valley is a vicious attempt by terrorists to assert that the situation on the ground continues to remain hostile even in the post-Article 370 revocation era. 

Truth be told, following the portrayal of the unadulterated truth surrounding the genocide of Kashmir Pandits, and the subsequently forced exodus of the community from their homeland, in The Kashmir Files movie, some sort of a backlash against Hindus in Kashmir was always on the cards. Nevertheless, it would be unideal to argue that things worsening so rapidly amid a spike in the targeted killings of Hindus in recent weeks was the most general anticipation among the masses. 

As a result, however, the Government of India (GOI) has been at the receiving end of widespread criticism from Kashmiri Pandits. Given how dangerously things stand at the moment, the clamour for relocation of KP employees placed in Kashmir under the Prime Minister’s employment package to Jammu is absolutely justified. 

image source : kashmirreader.com

The J&K government’s approval last week of a scheme for promotions of those KPs cuts no ice with the fear-stricken Pandit employees who would settle for nothing less than having their posts sent to a safer zone like Jammu. It has become imperative for both the UT and the central administrations to come to grips with the actuality that the swift unfolding of the chaos has led to certain non-negotiables for the KP employees, not working out of Kashmir whilst clouds of terror hover over them currently being the most important of those non-negotiables.  

Need for a strong counteraction

Clearly, the Modi government has its work cut out. It begins with an immediate acceptance of the reality that the security apparatus (or the lack of it) put in place for KP employees in Kashmir has largely failed in ensuring their safety. Hence, the need of the hour is for the government to take a comprehensive relook into its strategy and come up expeditiously with a fresh blueprint to stop the bloodshed of Kashmiri Hindus. In this regard, it is promising that the Union Home Minster Amit Shah has already set the ball rolling but one can only imagine that there are dozens of loopholes to be plugged. 

image source : hindustannewshub.com

Under the present circumstances, therefore, the idea of resettlement of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the valley seems nothing more than wishful thinking. Let’s face it, if a handful of KP employees working in Kashmir under the supervision of the Jammu & Kashmir UT administration and the central government are not safe, it would be naive to assume that the GOI is anywhere close to having succeeded in creating an environment of peace, security and stability in the region for the honourable return of the Pandit community as a whole. 

By giving Pakistan a bloody nose in its own backyard in 2016 and scrapping Article 370 in 2019 to eliminate the absurd law that questioned J&K’s complete integration with the rest of India, the Modi government scripted some glorious chapters in India’s fight against Pakistan-sponsored terror and the anti-India separatist forces in Kashmir. 

These unparalleled events skyrocketed the faith of the Indian people, especially the Kashmiri Pandits, in PM Modi’s leadership and the BJP as the saviours of India’s nationalistic pride and the salvagers of the honour of Kashmiri Pandits. 

Unfortunately, the abrupt rise in the acts of terror against KPs of late has somewhat dented their confidence in the Modi government’s overall scheme of things vis-a-vis Kashmir and Kashmir Pandits. The only way to reverse this situation and restore the faith is by giving a befitting reply to the terror machinery that aims to sweep away any trace of Pandits in the valley and by delivering a stern message to Kashmir’s political class with separatist leanings which continue to purse its brazen agenda even in the midst of this turmoil.  

Kashmir Pandits’ crusade for justice has attained a new essence after The Kashmir Files movie but this is only a drop in the ocean vis-a-vis the struggle

It rarely happens that the ghastly persecution faced by one community strikes the collective consciousness of a nation and invites unanimous condemnation at an unmatched scale by the morally upright citizenry. Sometimes years and years of activism, advocacy, commentary and documentation fail to comprehensively mobilise public opinion, whereas, on other occasions, even a spark is enough to inspire people to raise their voices in unison.   

In the context of the genocide of the Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) and the subsequent exodus of the Hindu minority community from the valley, it was more than three decades later that a piece of cinematic genius, made with an unrelenting determination to showcase hard-hitting facts, created ripples in the entire country like never before.   

The Kashmir Files (TKF) movie made by the audacious filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has brought a gigantic focus on the history of infliction of Islamic terror on KPs and the ordeal the community had to go through in its aftermath. From the conscientious Hindus living in India and spread globally to the Pandit community itself to no lesser figure than the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi - Agnihotri’s masterpiece has earned massive accolades for presenting an uncompromised version of the bloodbath that claimed scores of innocent KP lives. 

image source : english.jagran.com

Amid the fascinating support received by TKF, the lobby has maintained its reputation of being repugnant to anything that advocates the Hindu cause by questioning the legitimacy of the thought and purpose behind making the movie.   

The brazenly insensitive manner in which the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his party members ridiculed TKF, and unlike the several BJP-ruled states refused to make the film tax free in the national capital, displays the enormous apathy of the left-liberal political class maintained for decades towards the KP community and the Hindus at large. The obnoxious guffawing by Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party legislators on the floor of the Delhi Legislative Assembly was tantamount to mocking the multiple gut-wrenching stories of the KP massacre and the tales of immense struggle along with unimaginable endurance exhibited by the Pandits post exodus.  

On the other hand are the mainstream politicians of the valley with separatist leanings for whom TKF has come like a bolt from the blue. The repeated attempts by the Gupkar lobby to discredit the film as a piece of propaganda, aimed at besmirching Kashmiri Muslims and creating communal disharmony, have proved to be royally unproductive. 

The more the lobby has tried to trash the factual incidents of ethnic cleansing depicted in the film, the stronger has been the response of the Indian public in terms of embracing TKF as a medium to understand the horrid past of the Kashmiri Pandits. 

Finally, the pseudo-secular united political opposition and the so-called secular civil society in Delhi and elsewhere, which went ranting and raving about TKF being a venture to create a Hindu-Muslim divide in the country, have been left red-faced thanks to the tremendous response the movie has received from individuals, communities and groups alike. 

image source : dnaindia.com

The fact of the matter is that instead of celebrating Agnihotri’s fearless endeavour to awaken India about the gory details of the KP genocide, the lobby tried to obfuscate the discourse by giving it a spin that absurdly portrays the massive attention garnered by TKF as a threat to India's secular fabric. 

It must serve as a reality check for all Hindus and true secularists of this nation that any instance of activism or a piece of intellectual creation, which triggers a debate around the injustice, coercion and hounding faced by the Hindu community, is consciously tried to be sabotaged by the lobby. 

Time to awaken on our own 

While this is the time to feel grateful about TKF having brought unprecedented focus in more than three decades on the KP genocide, this also happens to be a crucial juncture for us to introspect and deeply so. The introspection ought to be done to ascertain why it took an art form to create a stir in the Indian minds with regard to the ghosts of Islamic terror that were unleashed on Hindus in the valley in the late 80s and the early 90s.

Had Vivek Agnihotri not mustered the courage to apprise the world of the stark realities of religious victimisation that the Pandit community was subjected to, would the deafening silence around it across political and social ecosystems have continued as it did for several years? 

image source : youtube.com

This is an opportune moment to be constructively self-critical and come together as a society to make an earnest admission that it is worrisome if it takes a movie to jolt us into becoming a morally and historically aware citizenry. It is indicative of a concerning mental dormancy at a societal level that requires an external force to end the state of oblivion vis-a-vis past incidents of religion-based targeted killings. 

The Kashmir Files movie has not only delivered momentous enlightenment on the stark realities of oppression faced by Kashmiri Hindus but has also rendered an important lesson for us to shun our dependence on artists, activists and the public figures for creating revolutionary awakenings around the history of carnage such as the KP genocide. 

The same holds for the Indian polity too. The Modi government, and the governments of the BJP-ruled states by virtue of awarding the movie a tax-free status, have shown the perfect gesture of giving TKF the kind of recognition that it deserved so that the message echoes far and wide across India’s political and social landscape. 

By all means, now is the time to resurrect the faith of the Kashmiri Pandits and give them the unwavering belief that despite so many years having passed justice will be delivered and their lost pride will be restored. 

  

Neutrality in Russia-Ukraine war safeguards India's national interest; West must admit its duplicity on leaving war-torn Ukraine in the lurch before questioning New Delhi

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves all over the world. Since the war began about three weeks ago, there has been an unrelenting influx of haunting images showing widespread destruction in some of the country’s biggest cities such as the capital Kyiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv and several other places, particularly in eastern Ukraine along the Russian border. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruthless aggression has forced thousands of helpless Ukrainians to take refuge at underground train stations and bomb shelters to dodge Russian missiles while millions of Ukrainian refugees continue to throng the borders of the neighbouring countries of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania everyday after fleeing their homeland. 

image source : dnaindia.com

As the world stares down the barrel of a possible third world war, which by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's admission will be “nuclear and destructive”, India’s position as a fence sitter in the face of the Russia-Ukraine war has expectedly garnered global intrigue.

The Indian Government’s stand on the situation has been clear from the get-go. As the crisis in Ukraine unfolded, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Putin and appealed for an immediate cessation of violence. He also urged Russia and the NATO group to resolve their differences through dialogue and called for all sides to exercise restraint. However, India has not joined the US-led western bloc constituting NATO to take an anti-Russia posture, naturally because New Delhi does not want to sever its decades-old friendly ties with Moscow. 

As the west looks at India in anticipation to preferably take an antagonistic stance against Russia sooner or later, the hypocrisy of the United States and the NATO in the current scheme of things cannot be emphasised enough. As a matter of fact, the west has played an instrumental role in bringing about the perilous situation that now exists in Ukraine by first provoking Russia with Ukraine’s potential inclusion into NATO and then leaving Ukraine in the lurch post the Russian invasion. 

The country of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky has been reduced to scapegoats in the tug of war between Russia and the US-led NATO. As Putin continues to relentlessly bomb several Ukrainian cities and capture strategic points, a helpless Zelensky is left with no choice but to urge his countrymen to pick up arms in self-defence against the mighty Russian forces. 

image source : bbc.com

Zelensky’s frustration at the West has become apparent since the NATO rejected his plea to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, with the latter claiming that it would lead to a broader conflict that could potentially involve the whole of Europe into a direct confrontation with Russia. The Ukrainian President minced no words in calling out the duplicity of the West, asserting that “If Ukraine falls, the whole of Europe will fall”. 

The fact of the matter is that if countries such as Turkey, China and Israel can offer to mediate between the two warring nations, it is unfathomable as to why the US, the UK and the western bloc at large have deliberately chosen to neglect the mediation option. On the contrary, the West has only provoked Russia more by imposing a multitude of sanctions to hurt the country’s economy in the long run. However, those sanctions do absolutely nothing in the short run to safeguard Ukraine from the utter devastation and misery received at the hands of the Russian armed forces. 

After luring Ukraine into the prospect of joining NATO and the European Union, how do the US President Joe Biden and the Western European leaders justify leaving the country at God’s mercy amid an ever-escalating Russian assault and a heart-wrenching exodus of millions of innocent Ukrainians to safer havens in the neighbouring Eastern European nations? A lesser power like Poland showed far greater courage by announcing that it would give the US its fighter jets for use by Ukraine in retaliation to Russia's air attacks, an offer expectedly turned down by the Biden administration. 

More than three weeks into the war and multiple rounds of negotiations between the two sides have resulted in no breakthroughs at all. Ukraine has now woken up and smelt the coffee, realising the hard way that it is their battle to wage while the West continues to just pay lip service.  

image source : defensenews.com

As Ukraine has been left to fend for itself with the war gaining momentum everyday, President Zelensky’s loss of faith in the west has become evident through his growing skepticism, and more recently denial, about joining NATO. It basically sums up the brutal reality of this unnecessary bloody conflict triggered by NATO’s expansionist aspirations across Eastern Europe. 

Therefore, no country or group of nations, especially the western lobby, has the moral authority to preach or cajole India into taking an anti-Russia stand that can potentially jeopardise the grand old alliance between the two nations. On the other hand, the US, the UK and the EU continue to maintain oil and gas relations with Russia despite the sanctions imposed. The EU, in particular, depends heavily on Russia to meet its energy consumption. 

India’s position in the national interest 

India may have abstained from voting on US-sponsored United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution castigating Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in favour of setting up an international enquiry into the Russian invasion, but New Delhi has certainly not abstained from its humanitarian responsibility towards Ukraine. Since the beginning of March, nearly a hundred tonnes of supplies that include medicines and other relief material have been sent for the internally displaced Ukrainians and those who have fled to the neighbouring countries. 

Yet, for the West, a crucial yardstick to evaluate India’s position is based on whether or not New Delhi continues to purchase the Russian oil. On the other hand, the US, the UK and the EU have not decided to completely halt their oil and gas imports from Russia. In fact, the EU countries depend much more heavily on Russia for its energy consumption compared to America and Britain, The European bloc members have been frank in admitting the infeasibility to abruptly cut energy ties with Moscow and letting their economies go into free fall. 

The duplicity of the West has well and truly become as explicit as it can get. For the bloc to try to subtly unnerve India by claiming that New Delhi’s continued affinity with Moscow will push the world’s largest democracy on “the wrong side of history” only reeks of its desperation to chase its own strategic ambition vis-a-vis the Ukraine crisis. 

The line taken by the Indian Government is one of diplomatic sagacity and completely in India’s national interest. India wants peace restored between the two nations and does not condone Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. But, at the same time, PM Modi is mindful of the extreme significance of the Indo-Russian ties. 

image source : onmanorama.com

Moscow has been New Delhi’s all-weather friend. Among a plethora of associations between the two nations, Russia has even supported India on the Kashmir issue when the world stood against it. During the 1971 war of liberation of East Pakistan, it was Russia that countered the US and Britain’s two-pronged military support to Pakistan against India. 

If the US and the EU have unanimously decided to refrain from engaging militarily in an ongoing war that affects them more directly than it does to India, then they have no business to sermonise or educate India on geopolitical propriety. 

India’s neutrality is the best policy to follow under the current circumstances. The Modi government is upholding the country’s age-old tradition of not joining a geopolitical bloc, and rightly so. Moreover, India must take great pride in the success of the Indian government’s Operation Ganga which evacuated more than 20,000 civilians, mostly students, from the Ukrainian war zone.