India And Its “Reliability” Factor

Speaking at Uttar Pradesh’s third investors’ summit, Indian PM Modi said, “only our democratic India” has the capability to prove that it is the “reliable partner” the world is looking for today.  PM Modi’s Chest thumping doesn’t end here, in fact, he further added that the world today is looking at India’s potential and praising its performance.” Yet PM Modi conveniently ignored the international community’s displeasure at his country’s stance on the Russia-Ukrainian crisis. West and in particular the U.S. expected India to take a firm stance on the Russian military offense against Ukraine, but the latter not only kept a neutral stance, but Indian FM also lectured Europe to stop thinking that their problems are the world’s problems. All this leads us to one single question whether India is a reliable partner in the U.S.-led world order? The short answer is no! India has proven time and again that it seldom walks the talk, therefore, making it tough for India’s Western allies to trust their South Asian ally.

India’s aspiration to become a great power and its ambitions to share the high table along with other global powers in UN Security Council has long been a dream unfulfilled. It has been pressing its Western allies to support its case for UNSC membership. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a test case for India to act as a responsible member of the international community. But India failed to take a principled stance which left its Western allies in utter disbelief. Delhi’s first statement in the UNSC, without mentioning any country, directly called for the international community to give diplomacy and dialogue a chance.  India, however, was short of criticizing Russia despite Ukraine’s public appeal for Delhi to take a clear stand.

Congress party leader P Chidambaram stated, “The Government of India should stop its verbal balancing act and sternly demand that Russia stop immediately the bombing of key cities in Ukraine.” In contrast to the Congress leader’s appeal, India abstained six times from condemning Russia’s actions at the UN. However, India’s policy of appeasing both Russia and the West in the Ukrainian crisis has caught the European Union off-guard. Even then EU envoys together with Ukraine’s envoy to New Delhi met senior Indian officials before a vote in the UNGA and urged India to adopt a stronger position on the conflict. But India refused to condemn Russia’s actions. It supports the notion that India’s image as a reliable Western partner, not only in Southern Asia but also in Indo-Pacific, has greatly declined. It has, rather, been disappointing for India’s European allies.

Ideally, India cannot afford to lose the trust of the international community, particularly in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but the direction it has taken under the Modi government will disappoint many of India’s friends. India has created a web of crisis at the domestic level which has tarnished its image as a secular country globally. The hate and violence against Muslims, Christians, Dalits, and other minorities have fractured India’s domestic cohesion. It leads us to yet another question; whether the international community can trust a domestically divided and fractured country that is fast becoming a Hindu Rashtra?

Most recently, the Biden administration, which turned a blind eye to India’s human rights violations, finally raised the issue publically. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was monitoring what he described as a rise in human rights abuses in India by some officials. “We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials,” Blinken said in a joint press briefing with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.

The U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives, seeking to urge Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate India as a country of “particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act and the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act. The congresswoman Ilhan, along with lawmakers Rashida Talib and Juan Vargas, submitted the resolution during the 117th session of Congress, as they appealed to the lower house to condemn violations of human rights and religious freedom in India.

Keeping these developments in view, it appears that India is increasingly seen as an unreliable ally in the West. It’s happening at a time when India needs international assistance more than ever. Such strong statements from US and European allies also suggest that India is not capable to act responsibly as a great power. A country that breeds hate and violence and also vandalizes the homes of its Muslim and Christian population cannot become a party in global peace and harmony. Modi’s India will always remain an unreliable partner to the West.

Yasir Hussain is a former research fellow at Stimson Center, Washington DC. He tweets @yasirhunzai1.