The current intellectual discourse in India and the world is moving around the ideas of reshaping global politics, with the narrative promoting humanism and sustainability at the international and personal levels. Morality and ethics, an integral part of the discipline of political science, strongly emphasises these concepts, but what happens when it comes to the issue of international relations – a sub-part of the mother discipline Political Science?
In the everyday matter of international relations, various interpretations are given to the nature of such inter-state relationships. There are multiple strands of thought – idealism, realism, and Marxism. Among these idealism champions are the ideas of human rights, democracy, sustainability, etc. Realism, on the other hand, argues that morality and ethics are a footnote in the everyday discourse of power politics among nation-states.
India is unique in the history of the world. With a 5000-year-old civilisation known for its humungous diversity and beauty, India is perhaps the only country in the world that has championed the cause of peace and tolerance since ancient times.
Today’s India is, however, a bit different. Having suffered a thousand years of colonisation, persecution, and enslavement, both on religious and ethnic grounds, first by Middle Eastern colonisers and later on by Europeans; India is a country that prides itself in enhancing its national power, particularly military and economic power, to ensure that the spirit of liberty that it gave to the world is never undermined in the future.
India carries the ideas and principles of Bharat and continues to champion the cause of suffering humanity globally. The country believes in the inclusivity of opinions of all hues and shades and in preaching what the great English philosopher John Locke articulated in A Letter concerning Toleration ‘diversity of toleration’.
In this context, it has become necessary to expound the ideals of India as an inclusive 21st-century power and its making.
G20 – High Watermark of Indic Spirit
For India, 2023 was a high point diplomatically, especially because India played host to the most important global summit – G20. This summit saw India taking proactive initiatives on promoting a multitude of issues, ranging from climate change to worldwide connectivity, culminating in the initiation of many projects such as the Global Bio-Fuels Alliance that pledged to increase the concentration of ethanol, methanol and other bio-fuels in fossil fuels like petrol and diesel to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions to meet India’s 2030 climate commitments and to promote global climate sustainability. India also highlighted the progress made in the fight against climate change via a plethora of domestic climate protection initiatives. The second and perhaps the most consequential initiative was the game-changing decision to include the African Union in the G20 grouping. Hence, from now on, G20 is G21. This reflects India’s continuous commitment to advocate the cause of the Global South, a major part of which resides in Africa.
With a 5000-year-old civilisation known for its humungous diversity and beauty, India is perhaps the only country in the world that has championed the cause of peace and tolerance since ancient times
African countries and Bharat have had equal experiences of racism, colonialism, imperialism and enslavement. The people of these countries were exploited and abused by the powerful colonial powers of the West. The idea of West v/s non-West is less relevant today, yet history continues to play a crucial role in shaping the identity of countries, especially for the nation-states of the Global South.
Comrade in Need
India has always come to the aid of the needy. This was especially evident during the Covid-19 pandemic when India sent vaccines, critical medical equipment, and Covid kits etc., to over 50 countries under Operation Maitri. India did all this when Indians were falling victim to the deadly pestilence, especially during the Delta wave of the pandemic in 2021.
Indian diplomacy is also committed to global human rights protection. It was evident when India condemned the deaths of civilians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and by sending aid to the suffering Palestinian and Israeli victims of Hamas’ barbarity.
India demanded a thorough & impartial global inquiry into the Bucha massacre in the early parts of the Russo-Ukraine war.
India committed itself to the cause of humanity without going into strategic considerations, this was clear from the prompt humanitarian assistance it sent to help the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey last year under Operation Dost.
Advocating Autonomy           Â
A key component of Indian foreign policy has been strategic autonomy, denoting that India is a country that can make decisions strictly governed by its national interests disregarding pressures to accede to a particular global narrative or to join a power bloc or alliance. The strategic autonomy was the brainchild of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He applied it during the Cold War through the Non-Aligned Movement.
This policy paid rich dividends over time and saw continuity across different administrations, no matter which party or regime came to power.
The Modi government, however, took its interpretation to an entirely new level. Despite facing the Western opposition to boycott Russia in general and President Vladimir Putin in particular, the Indian strategic establishment decided to pay no heed to such pressures, and the Prime Minister made a successful visit to Russia.
India has always come to the aid of the needy. During the Covid-19, India sent vaccines, critical medical equipment, and Covid kits to over 50 countries, at a time when Indians were falling victim to the deadly virus
This ability to withstand severe pressure from the West in its foreign policy decision-making served as a template for other countries, especially the Global South countries so that external forces do not dictate critical issues that determine the faith of their country.
Net Security Provider
Indian strategic considerations need equal attention to protect and promote the national interests in the maritime zones as well. This is attestable to the Mission SAGAR under which India agreed to act as a net security provider to the littoral states in the Indian Ocean Region not only in the realm of humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) but also to protect global sea lanes from piracy and irredentist claims of rival powers, particularly China. This is the reason why India has decided to expand the horizons of its focus from IOR to the South China Sea region, which accounts for a substantial portion of India’s fossil fuels, food and other critical developmental commodities, both in terms of export and import.
India’s role as a net security provider also involves solidifying ties with the IOR countries via Project Mausam. Launched in 2014, this initiative aims to revive civilisational ties between India and some forty-odd countries in the IOR regions. Reviving age-old cultural ties helps in developing common values in the region and beyond.
A key component of Indian foreign policy has been strategic autonomy, denoting that India is a country that can make decisions strictly governed by its national interests disregarding pressures to accede to a particular global narrative or to join a power bloc or alliance
Exporting Cultural Nationalism
As a shaper of identity and global social force, nationalism has been a force to reckon with. While nationalism in the West is often looked at with a pejorative look due to its dark and grisly past, it is not so in the case of India. The decade-long rule of the Modi government has been instrumental in the export of cultural nationalism, anchored in Indic values. Prominent intellectuals such as Sandeep Balakrishna, J Sai Deepak, Vikram Sampath, and Ram Madhav have been quite upbeat in advocating the case of Indic and cultural nationalism across the globe.
Cultural nationalism champions the cause of culture and the markers associated with that culture such as language, customs, traditions, etc. However, there is something different about Indic cultural nationalism. At the same time, remaining anchored in Sanatani traditions, it is also committed to the constitutional values of secularism, equality before the law, and tolerance. This was very well brought out by Ram Madhav in an essay for Open Magazine.
Spreading the ideas and principles of cultural nationalism will go a long way in combating the woke agenda the global left is propagating across the world. It will contribute to the awakening of resurgence of culture and promote global social solidarity which has been under duress thanks to unbridled individualism.
Hence, India as an inclusive global power has a lot of responsibilities to carry forward, which it will do with heft and a strong sense of conviction.
The world needs India to spread the message of peace. The Indic civilisation has been a paragon of peace and inclusiveness for the past five epochs.
Why the World Needs India
The world is looking at India due to the country’s rising profile. Love us, hate us, you simply cannot ignore us. Seldom has it happened that a country with such a rich repertoire of culture, wisdom, ideas and institutions has managed to influence the trajectory of world history as India has done. The world needs India. The global political order is urgently in need of a country that espouses a collectivistic value system to improve human thinking. India sets an example for the rest of the world that with a strong cohesive social space backed by a strong political authority is a model for the rest of the world on how to carry out good governance.
The world needs India to bolster global productivity. India has one of the youngest populations in the world, the median age of the Indian population is 29 years. The population of the youth population is over 800 million. With an enhancement in the expenditure on education, research and development such a population can be metamorphosed into a game-changing asset in terms of global human capital.
The world needs India to spread the message of peace. The Indic civilisation has been a paragon of peace and inclusiveness for the past five epochs. Its proactive approach in trying to defuse the crises across the world is a testimony to how India would play a critical role in making peace a perennial feature of the global political order. India, too, is a role model of how to operate a democracy. The recently concluded 18th Lok Sabha elections saw the world’s gigantic electoral exercise being conducted smoothly with no major issues.
Hence, it is very clear that just as India needs the rest of the world, the world too needs India.
–The writer is currently working as a Research Associate at Defence Research and Studies (dras.in) and is a columnist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
