India - A Craven Superpower

It is now proved beyond reasonable doubt. Other countries may regard India as a world power, but India itself does not. Time and again, our government cravenly caves in to the slightest hint of pressure.

After the Ajmer blasts, it was widely suspected that the mastermind behind the barbaric act was holed up in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is recognized internationally as being a basket case. Yet India, with all its clout, put no real pressure on its puny neighbor to have the culprit extradited to India to face judgment. More recently, a minister in Malaysia publicly criticized one of our senior Chief Ministers for speaking out against the maltreatment of ethnic Indians in Malaysia. In terms of economic and military strength, Malaysia is no match for India. Yet the Malaysian government felt emboldened enough to issue a public reprimand to one of our very senior politicians. Why? Because, unfortunately, this is the kind of cowardly reputation India has acquired in the international arena.

The latest example is the news that the Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreen, has agreed to withdraw certain passages from her autobiography, because they ‘offended’ some Muslim fundamentalists. I have no doubt she was pressurized by the Indian government – under the guise not risking communal tensions. In other words, the mighty Indian state is successfully being held hostage by a bunch of fanatics. If there is an easy way out of a difficult situation, you can be sure our government will grab it – no matter how unprincipled and humiliating it may be.

Contrast this with the principled and courageous stand of the British government in offering state protection to Salman Rushdie, when Islamic fundamentalists issued a fatwa against him for his novel, Satanic Verses. The British correctly came to the decision that the right to freedom of expression for one of its citizens deserved protection – even at considerable expense to its government. Why cannot the Indian government provide similar protection to Taslima Nasreen? After all, it has no compunction in spending lakhs on Z-plus security for a nonentity like Sonia Gandhi’s son in-law.

All this talk of India becoming ‘world class’ will remain a pipe dream, until Indian leaders get the basics right. It is shameful that – 60 years after attaining independence – Indians cannot get rid of the ingrained obsequiousness forced on them under British rule. Domestically, the British masters have been replaced by megalomaniacal party leaders. Hence, one witnesses the revolting spectacle of politicians falling at the feet of their party supremo. Internationally, India is one of the top ten countries in the world, economically and militarily. Unfortunately, this reality has not struck home in the psyche of those who govern us. They have petty, craven minds; and much weaker countries take advantage of this to bully us. It is a shameful state of affairs.