It is curious fact in international politics that the two big democracies in the world, USA and India have been at odd with each other for most of the times. While there may be many reasons for this, one reason that I think is the differing temperament of the ruling classes of the two countries.
Historically, Indian elites love to speak of grand theories and high morals. But few of them actually practiced what they preached. Mahatma gandhi being the exception which proved the rule. On the other hand, the US ruling class were the pragmatic kind, preferring actions to pious words.
Hence, I think the Indians irritated the americans and vice versa. The americans found in Pakistani elite a more amenable lot. The pakistani too because of their middle-eastern historical links are also more of doers than preachers. So the americans found it much more convenient to work with the pakistanis rather than the highfalutin indian nobility.
But now things are a bit changing. The new generation of leaders (ironically filled with quite a lot of old people like Vajpayee, manmohan singh etc) have realized that lot of highsounding words dont count anything. And they are trying to put in motion a work oriented relationship. They realized that for india to be treated seriously in world affair, it should show some achievments rather than just the ability to talk and lecture a lot.
We live in interesting times!
2 comments:
The Pakistani army was willing to 'work with' the Americans, meaning they would do anything to stay in power. So the US used them to hurt the USSR in Afghanistan, and when the USSR left, the Pakistanis were abandoned. Same thing's going on today, their army is willing to bomb and arrest their own people as long as the USA keeps giving them money. Don't know how long this phase will last.
India was not willing to be a chamcha of the US... although pragmatically I think we should have. South Korea, Japan, Western Europe, all the countries that let the USA manage their defense are 1st world nations now while many of our people are still preoccupied with RKM (roti, kapda, makaan).
Now we are benefitting from the international trade system that the USA's military guarantees so it is to our advantage to work with them... we can both make money...
India was blessed with democratic minded leaders like Nehru and Patel at the beginning. Now democracy has taken firm roots and people will not tolerate any Indian govt which will be USA's chamcha.
I still feel that India's policy was much better because India is a much bigger country than South Korea or Japan and could not follow their policy.
The policy was good, maybe it could be implemented slightly better. But even now I am hesitant if my prescription of a better implementation might not have caused some catastrophe. I think Nehru and other earlier Indian leaders guided India through a very difficult phase with great courage. So I am very hesitant to criticise them.
Post a Comment