Myanmar’s ruling junta has revealed its iron fist again. It has used extreme force to clamp down on peaceful protesters demanding restoration of democracy in the country.

Protests that erupted a month ago over a fuel price hike have since snowballed into a larger movement calling for restoration of democracy. Rattled by the size of the street demonstrations and the legitimacy the monks were conferring on the protests through their participation, the junta has decided to crush the protests.

Thousands of soldiers have been deployed, monasteries have been raided and at least a dozen protesters have been shot dead. Even the UN staff members working in poverty alleviation projects have not been spared.

The demonstrations have been peaceful, yet the junta has had no qualms about using violence to beat back the protesters. This is not surprising. Myanmar’s military rulers have a long history of using repressive measures to put down pro-democracy protests.

In 1988, for instance, the junta unleashed violence to quell a students’ uprising. That crackdown left 3,000 people dead. In the years since, it has refused to heed the electoral mandate and has suppressed the pro-democracy movement by jailing its leaders, including the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and intimidating the public.

India’s lukewarm response to the developments in Myanmar – it has refrained from condemning the violent suppression of peaceful protests – is unfortunate.

It is treading carefully as it fears that the gains made in building a relationship with the generals over the past decade will be negated by any gesture of support to the pro-democracy activists. Its support of the pro-democracy movement in the early 1990s cost India dearly. It pushed the generals into the arms of the Chinese.

Delhi’s muted response to the ongoing protests is an attempt to avoid going down that road.

But silence when repression is unleashed in the neighbourhood is unconscionable and unprincipled. The Indian government will stand diminished in the eyes of its own people and the international community if it persists with this position.

India is likely to lose the immense public goodwill it has enjoyed in Myanmar by not speaking up against the violence and repression being unleashed by the generals. At a crucial turning point in the anti-monarchy protests that swept Nepal last year, India failed to read the popular mood in that country and backed the wrong horse.

India’s disastrous diplomacy ended up undermining its image as a champion of democratic struggles. It is in danger of repeating that mistake now.