This Independence Day was very special. The global order has been mauled by President Trump’s tariff wars. International trade had never been disrupted to this scale; every international understanding of every multilateral agency has been overlooked, if not thrown out of the window! Bilateral understandings have been renegotiated or dropped, awaiting new treaties, while tariffs have been imposed unilaterally by the all-powerful USA. And Trump has sadistically enjoyed feeling his power all the way!
MAGA is underway. True to his promise, President Trump is making those big changes, making his allies wake up and smell the coffee! That he is dependable (maybe?), only on his own terms. New groupings are emerging, some yet no clear, the global equations are being reviewed, almost re-written. Sceptical about their eventual impact on USA itself, in a large global perspective, economists are of the view that USA is increasingly making itself isolated from global forums, giving the edge to China that had all this while been increasing its contributions to them, see what has happened to WHO over recent years. America may become great again, located in one corner of the global exchange!
So much so, Trump has left even his closest allies wondering what’s next for them, witness US’s evolving ties with Europe and Japan. The resolution in Ukraine is another factor playing out, suggesting it is only their own interest first that matters.
Is this the America the world understood or expected to position itself; under currents emphasising that eventually American interests overrode all else has been felt off and on, all along, with countries preferring to look the other way, for their short-term self-interest. National interest is also the privilege and necessity of all nations, just as much as long held partnerships and beliefs.
India has been singled out most blatantly. Even pulled up for not being a true enough ally, meaning that our multi-polar diplomacy does not get approval. Either you are with them, or not at all! In our immediate neighbourhood, while we have been singled out most globally, for reasons that will remain a conjecture, military alliances and new political disturbances have been carried out in Pakistan and Bangladesh, all detrimental to Indian interests.
After all the bonhomie between Trump and PM Modi, after that most infamous espousal of the US President, by none other than PM Modi himself, “Abki baar Trump ki sarkar”, when USA was going for a second term for Trump, but eventually lost with President Biden scoring a historic win, we have witnessed such a turn around that has left the world guessing!
Why is Trump targeting India and PM Modi? Is it a personal grudge? A professional issue? Like India going soft and slow in Quad to give it a military dimension? Is it the pressure of the Boeing company in the AI 171 crash? Is it the Indian preference for Raffale over the US F35s? Or, all this combined has rattled Trump beyond his belief of, or understanding with PM Modi? And that India has continued to buy Russian oil, something that had not bothered him earlier, or showed off Russian S400 supremacy over western equipment relied upon by Pakistan? Is it that India is a big part of BRICS, threatening with a counter currency that will challenge the US dollar? Among all the founding members of BRICS, is India the most vulnerable? Or, that India refused any suggestion that President Trump brokered peace between India and Pakistan, bruising his chances of winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
So, belting Trump’s expectations, India has stood firm, treading the multipolar rope walk, a most difficult journey when opposing camps have been seeking stronger alliances with us, even as China has been blowing hot and cold down our back, ever since sounding alarm bells in 2020 Doklam encounter.
If India must continue her path of staying non-aligned, strike transparent arrangements with all, being friends with all, trading partner with all, our declared commitment to global ethics and morality should ideally over ride all our actions in every global forum. What we can and must do, playing the Gandhian, show the morally correct route. And where we cannot, for whatever compulsions, we must strike balances, that help us not dilute our position.
It’s easier said than done. To be permitted to be ourselves, we must be strong enough not to be bullied or trifled with. This means we ensure growth that is comprehensive in the first place. A growth that encompasses economy, intelligence and militarily. This growth must also be inclusive. One that embraces every level in our society in our society, regardless of caste or creed. Nobody must be left behind.
This effort involves us all, not just the government but the onus falls first on those in governance and leadership. Exhorting with example, how society must rally behind the national cause to rise and shine.
In this delicate phase, every step that provokes division within our people must be given a long pause. Issues like language, caste, religion are meaningless when the nation herself needs a defining glue that holds it together! Declare a moratorium on such issues, inter-state differences, clashes between communities become irrelevant when the unity of the nation can be threatened. A message that goes loud and clear across the nation – that we are one united people, above all.
It is the job of the opposition to oppose, but it does not mean they oppose every action, regardless of it being right or wrong. There are, and must remain sacrosanct, some national issues and concerns. Voices of unity must remain stronger and more audible.
It is an undeclared state of emergency, for us as a nation. It is a time when we need to declare a moratorium on all contentious issues, that have the capacity to divide our people. We need to bring the government and the opposition, those in governance and those being governed, to come rest on the same page, on all matters that relate to national security and defence, global interplay, ensuring that there are regular briefings, sharing notes on the way forward. Towards this end, national institutions must exhibit the greatest degree of transparency, there must only one law, that works for everyone, the privileged and the common man. It is a time for nation vigil at its highest alert, India must achieve the status of Viksit Bharat, well before the goal post of 2047.
