Satish Kumar
When the US talked about converting the Quad into a military system like NATO, India refused. This was the result of India’s global thinking. The climate of conflict and war is not appropriate for the continent of Asia. India has always stood against war and conflict. Therefore, India’s neutrality decision on the Russia-Ukraine issue needs to be viewed in a broader perspective.
India’s decision to take a neutral stand on the issue of Russia-Ukraine war remains a topic of discussion in the country and the world. India is under constant pressure to leave neutrality and join the anti-Russian camp. The US and its allies are pressuring India that it should also join the Western sanctions against Russia. But India has been a believer from the beginning and has been saying that the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine should emphasize on peace efforts. War is never going to end by camp. That is why India is neutral and also in favor of peace.
The diplomacy of pressure against India to get rid of Russia is not minor. America is making every effort for this. Recently, America’s Deputy National Security Adviser had come to Delhi and warned India that Russia would not be able to help anything in the event of China’s invasion, which America can do. At the same time, it was also said that the meaning of sanctions against Russia should be understood by India.
Actually, every event in international politics has its own importance and consequences. That’s why this jackass of America has no meaning. Anyway, the situation in India is not the same as that of the Cold War, when it was used as a constrained and forced country. Today, despite all the pressures, if India is firm on its decision, then it has a strong and logical foreign policy behind it. India has been saying from the beginning that it is in favor of stopping war and protecting the sovereignty of any country. The honor and dignity of international organizations and an advocate of world peace.
India’s neutrality decision needs to be seen and understood in a wider context. War is a sign of a sick mentality. It is not correct to just assume that Russia’s fault lies with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The truth is that the US and Ukraine are equally guilty of scripting this war. From the formation of NATO, its role and policies of encroachment are not unknown to the world.
During the eighties, the US promised the former Russian President Gorbachev that NATO would not be expanded into Eastern Europe at any cost. But the opposite happened. NATO was first expanded in 1997, but then Russia remained silent. Then it happened in 2004. Even then Russia did not react. But when it came to joining Ukraine and Georgia in NATO in 2008, Russia was furious. That is, the script of this war was written in 2008 itself. Therefore, who is to blame and how much is no longer an inexplicable puzzle.
If seen, the history of NATO so far has been bloody. American policies in Kosov, Iraq and Afghanistan took millions of lives. Millions of people were left homeless and NATO destroyed the political and economic systems of many countries. NATO’s suffering today is also because its policies are being challenged. India does not agree with the invasion of Russia. That is why he has tried to keep the seriousness of the matter in his remarks with impunity. It is also true that India adopted a policy of neutrality on the Russian intervention in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 and again in Afghanistan in 1979.
Today, India is also at the center of superpowers in the midst of Russia-Ukraine war. It is a time of litmus test for Indian diplomacy. Diplomats of major countries are busy influencing Indian foreign policy according to their own interests. The game of putting India under dilemma and pressure continues. That is why these questions are surprising everyone that what is the purpose of the visit of foreign ministers? Apart from the Prime Minister of Japan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the only leader with whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi met.
America and Western countries were closely watching this meeting. Earlier, the Foreign Minister of China had also suddenly visited India, but could not meet the top leadership. Not only this, the visit of the American diplomat was also limited to the Ministry of External Affairs. The Russian Foreign Minister for the first time openly hinted at the India-China border dispute.
He said that Russia will always be in efforts to ensure that the situation between India and China does not worsen beyond the limit. Apart from this, the Russian Foreign Minister also indicated that due to the quadruple (quad) of India, America, Japan and Australia made to stop China in the Indo-Pacific region, Russia will also try to eliminate China’s doubts about India. . These gestures of the Russian Foreign Minister cannot be called air-air, because the organization of Russia, India, China – RIC (RIC) provides its basis.
The basis of India-Russia relations is like a line on a stone. When Atal Bihari Bajpayee went to Russia as Foreign Minister in 1978, he had said that Russia is India’s only friend. In 1960, the remark of the President of Russia Khrushchev was also similar that if India raises its voice from the Himalayas, then Russia will always stand for it. This friendship grew stronger with time. Russia was India’s biggest trading partner in the Cold War. Even today, India buys a major part of weapons from Russia itself. Russia has also promised to meet the shortage of oil and gas. Russia’s role in the security of Central Asia and Afghanistan is important.
Some things have become clear in the war between Russia and Ukraine. India has become a country whose thinking and policy have influenced the countries of the world. India is probably the only country in the world where the foreign ministers of Russia, China and America recently visited. The reason is also clear. When the US talked about converting the Quad into a military system like NATO, India refused. This was the result of India’s global thinking. The atmosphere of conflict and war is not appropriate for the continent of Asia. India has always stood against war and conflict.
Therefore, India’s neutrality decision on the Russia-Ukraine issue needs to be viewed in a broader perspective. If sovereignty continues to be violated in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan, this link will continue to build up to Ukraine along with many other countries. Therefore it is necessary to strengthen international organizations and create a rule bound global order. For this, the Indian Foreign Minister has also made India’s foreign policy clear to the world. The world is also seeing the dual character of the countries which are trying to keep India-Russia relations in the dock. But India is taking the initiative to save the world from the horrors of war, not to spread hysteria.