Always more than meets the eye
India, no doubt, markets its large market and largest democracy credentials quite well to the outside world. Quite naturally it aspires, as foreign secretary S Jaishankar put it recently, ‘to be a leading power, rather than just a balancing power’. And it realises how important it is to ‘look beyond 20thcentury orthodoxies’ to achieve that aim. Yet there is only so far such rhetoric will take New Delhi, especially the part about ‘a willingness to shoulder greater global responsibilities’. And it is with good reason that much of the world advises the Modi government to make peace with Pakistan, especially now that there is a willing partner in Nawaz Sharif.
No matter how strongly New Delhi wishes to posture on the regional and global stage, it will not be taken seriously so long as the dispute with Pakistan lingers. The recent Ufa affair was perhaps the finest example of the kind of limitations and frustrations Modi and friends are likely to encounter if they choose to ignore Pakistan. The unprovoked anti-Pakistan belligerence had not gone unnoticed, and there was clearly much international pressure on Modi to de-escalate; hence the handshake in Russia. It’s another thing, of course, that Pakistan’s foreign ministry – still short of a full time minister – failed to exploit the sentiment.
After Ufa India was quick to return to aggressive rhetoric and violence over the LoC and working boundary. Such actions betray a novice in the big office who continues to play to a very limited domestic audience. Such politics and policies will not help India as the interplay between China and the US, in Jaishankar’s words, decides the future of the region. Pakistan and India will have to connect eventually, and the Modi government does nobody any favour by delaying the hour of decision. And, of course, all outstanding issues will ultimately be discussed, no matter how much the extreme right electorate in India wishes to sidestep it. Otherwise both countries will remain caught in ‘20th century orthodoxies’ as the rest of the world marches forward. The ball remains in Delhi’s court, for now.
