Bharatiya Janata Party Win: India Will No Longer Tolerate US Interference
With the poll victory of the conservative Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party — BJP — in the largest democratic election in world history, it appears that the USA has yet another foreign relations challenge to deal with. This landslide victory is not only one the most lopsided in Indian history, it represents a HUGE mandate from all socio-economic strata within Indian society. In the end it will be known as a vote against entrenched mediocrity and rampant corruption.
Indian election 2014 results: Modi and BJP secure massive victory
Modi represents the new India, as well as the old India. For both of these reasons, Washington has very good reason to be concerned. Only because the Obama Administration has managed its foreign affairs in such an amateur and unprofessional way, especially with regard to its relationship with India, will this relationship face some formidable obstacles. One thing is for certain, Modi will not be bullied or bribed, coerced or pressured as his predecessors were by the USA. He will also demand equal respect, which will be reciprocated as the Indians are always known to do.
The Indian diplomatic dustup in NYC was a foolish provocation that may haunt the Obama Administration for the rest of its term.
Not only was Narendra Modi the next prime minister of India denied a visa by the US Department of State in 2006, he also took a very strong position during the recent violation of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade after her humiliating arrest in New York City back in December of 2013. As a means of solidifying his candidacy, Modi went so far as to gin up his supporters’ anti-American sentiment. The national mood at the time was quite unhappy with the US treatment of one of India’s daughters, so it didn’t take much for Modi to capitalize on the wave of anger that moved across the entire nation.
India warns U.S. of impact on ties after re-indictment of Indian woman diplomat
The American side of this diplomatic fiasco is as inexplicable today as it was then. In light of the re-indictment of Ms. Khobragade on March 14, 2014, the situation has been made predictably worse. Which begs the question: Why would the USA go out of its way to sabotage a good relationship between major trading partners during the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression?
There is a very significant backstory which has gone unaddressed by the mainstream media. India as a nation has had very mixed feelings about the rapid liberalization of society, just as Russia and China have had. American influence, while appreciated in some ways, is considered rather unenlightened and obtuse concerning more important cultural matters. Simply put, the Indian people will not be put upon by their American counterparts where it concerns their very traditional and conservative culture.
Especially where it concerns economic and financial agreements, international trade relations, and historical commercial interests, India will not tolerate US meddling. With the establishment of the BRICS Economic Union, the US no longer possesses the leverage to force India’s hand around so many business and financial issues. Having suffered under British imperialism for so long, the last thing they want to be is straightjacketed by Pax Americana.
India demands a level playing field and respect among peers
Narendra Modi and BJP won by an unprecedented margin for many reasons. One of those is the strong posture that he has assumed on the global geopolitical chessboard. He has not shown a willingness to compromise away Indian national sovereignty the way that Manmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister has. The Congress Party has suffered such a crisis in confidence that the popular support, which they enjoyed for so many years, all but evaporated in the wake of more corruption scandals than the Obama Administration has experienced.
Herein lies the true cause for such an overwhelming victory for BJP, and unparalleled loss for the Congress Party. Just like their US counterpart in DC, the people found out just how unrepresentative the ‘peoples’ party truly was. After 20 years of failed leadership, so much had moved in the wrong direction that there were no longer any excuses available for Singh et al. to use. The ongoing betrayal of the common man became so vast and out in the open, just like the Obama Administration has become known for. The very causes, which have traditionally endeared the India’s masses to the populist Congress Party of the Nehru and Gandhi clans, were consistently abandoned for the sake of more narrow interests; often corporate, and oftentimes Western corporate interests as in the US of A.
This has not sat well with any demographic in India. Especially those political parties, whose traditional base is known to be strongly patriotic and nationalistic in regard to business dealings, were able to capitalize on the growing anti-American mood. Whereas Singh was always careful not to offend his Western counterparts, Modi simply did not care who might be unhappy with his social and religious proclivities, policy announcements and political decisions. As long as Modi was true to the Indian people, there was no stopping him. That’s not to say that he does not come with some serious baggage from the Gujarati riots of 2002. However, the truth of that affair may now have an opportunity to be revealed which may very well exonerate him.
Nevertheless, there are many who believe that the Anglo-American power base in India ginned up those allegations lodged in the media, after they themselves triggered the riots. After all, divide and rule is what they have always done throughout the Indian subcontinent. Modi is well away of this and other mischief that the CIA and MI6 have directly caused throughout India over many decades. Now, he will have access to intelligence which will corroborate the interference in India internal affairs by other nations. Modi gives every indication that he will not permit Indian sovereignty to be trampled as the Congress Party routinely allowed. That Sonia Gandhi, an Italian by birth, has been one of the most powerful political figures in the national firmament has also not sat well with the electorate, particularly when there are well over 1.2 billion native Indians who are well known for their national pride.
This is the context that an imposing US Administration will have to adapt to.
Anyone can see that those who staff the US Embassy in Delhi have got their work cut out for them. The current relationship with Obama & Company is very strained at best. Given the outright impositions which have been foisted on many smaller and weaker nations since the beginning of the Obama presidency, India has drawn it boundaries quite clearly; they will not be treated as a lesser partner in any sphere of international relations. Nor will they tolerate foreign influences which seek to stir up sentiments which are contrary to traditional Indian values and sensibilities.
As Russia distances itself from the USA orbit and stands up to its blatant imperialism in the Ukraine, and China confronts US meddling in the South China Sea, so too will India seek out a position that asserts its independence from Washington. Modi was chosen partly to see that this will happen. Perhaps Obama will quickly acquire the proper understanding of these new geopolitical realities in the East, so that his now Asian pivot does not cause him to fall flat on his ….
The Asian pivot, which has been referred to so often in the MSM of late, is nothing more than a show of military force and economic influence in a region of the world that it ought not to be interfering in. Yankee gunboat diplomacy of the past is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated. Given the emerging calculus undergirding the new Asian economic unions and financial alliances, energy agreements and transport configurations, major changes are now occurring that will profoundly affect American influence throughout the region, and beyond.
Cultural Differences Cannot Be Reconciled Unless There Is Mutual Respect
These are other very significant ‘issues’ which exist between the US and India. While there is every reason that these two nations should peacefully coexist and enjoy mutually beneficial trade arrangements, India has often gotten the short end of the stick. However, those arrangements will change as necessary with the passage of time. It is the social and religious influences exerted by the USA on India which have proven to be the most nettlesome. Unlike India, the US has an overwhelming tendency to interfere directly in the affairs of other nations, especially it partners. It also attempts to Americanize every nation with which it interacts with. Christian missionary work is just one blatant example of this.
While there can be positive effects from this interaction, there are many instances when the US attempts to impose it religions, it social mores, and its cultural sensibilities on the rest of the world. Indian culture is too conservative to assimilate the radically different ways found in the overly permissive Western societies. This is where the backstory gets very interesting since there have been reactions by the USA to recent Indian events which have demonstrated a lack of patience on the part of Western diplomats, as well as the liberal elements within the American intelligensia.
It is within this particular milieu that the ongoing clash of civilizations will manifest the greatest challenges between India and the USA. With the election of Narendra Modi the Obama Administration will be compelled to get it act together for once, if the USA is to enjoy a collegial relationship with the largest democracy in the world.
The question is: Can the US restrain itself and humble itself to the degree necessary to carry on a mutually respectful relationship with Bharat Ganrajya (aka India)?
Michael Thomas
May 19, 2014
StateoftheNation2012.com
References:
Modi eyes ‘India’s century’ after landslide victory
A Modi Win: A Loss for U.S.-Indian Ties?
WHIPLASH: Modi can help India get over its US obsession
© 2014 State of the Nation
Permission is granted to post this essay as long as it is linked back to the following url:
https://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=5357