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An analysis of India’s global relevance, examining economic limitations, foreign policy choices, and the erosion of moral authority in international affairs...
India is irrelevant in the world stage
By Justice Markandey Katju
Despite having a huge population of 1430 million people, and despite all our tall claims of being the 'Vishwaguru' ( teacher of the world ) and having the fastest growing economy in the world, the truth is that India is really irrelevant in the world today. The Indian government's deafening silence in the present US-Iran war is one proof of this.
There are several reasons for this irrelevance of India, as given below :
1. Primarily, to be relevant in the world, a country must have a highly developed economy. But the truth is that India today is relatively economically backward as compared to developed countries like USA, China, Russia, Japan, the European countries, etc, as the articles below reveal :
While the USA has a GDP of about 31 trillion dollars, and China about 20 trillion dollars, India has GDP of only about 4 trillion dollars ( and that figure, too, may be an exaggeration ). There is massive poverty, unemployment, child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index ), almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the Indian masses, etc.
Despite our tall claim of economic independence and self-autonomy, the truth is that because of our relative economic backwardness, India is really subservient to powerful nations. One proof is that the US Government prohibited us from buying cheap Iranian and Russian oil. Recently, the US Commerce Secretary announced that India can buy Russian oil only for 30 days ( probably motivated by the war with Iran, which the Americans expect to last for at most 4 weeks ). Does this show that we are a truly independent country, when another country can dictate to us? If we had been really independent, we should be able to decide for ourselves, keeping our own national interest in mind, whom we should buy oil from.
2. Underdeveloped countries can also play a role in world affairs if it is perceived to have moral stature. Thus, Prime Minister Nehru's principles of secularism and non-alignment gave us the moral authority and capacity to intervene in the Korean war, and support China's claim to be in the United Nations, and its participation in the Bandung Conference in 1955, despite Western pressure on us.
All that moral authority of India has gone today, by our ill treatment of Indian Muslim and Christian minorities, and support of the barbaric Israeli regime ( when it was earlier a strong supporter of the Palestinians ), as explained in the link below :
With what face can we tell Bangladeshis and Pakistanis to stop maltreating their Hindu ( and other ) minorities, when we often maltreat, oppress and persecute our own minoriies ? How does it lie in our mouth to say that ? What moral authority do we have when we refused to condemn the horrendous atrocities by Israel on the people of Gaza, and the recent killing of 165 girls in an elementary school in Iran ( apart from other barbaric acts in the present war ) ?
The truth is that India is regarded as irrelevant today by the world, though we can thump our chests as much as we want, and claim to be the Vishwaguru.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
