Bending before insolent might

Rahul Gandhi has, for long, been lampooned by the ruling BJP and its allies – for his political choices and often, his personal traits. The Leader of the Opposition continues to take some serious stick over what is projected politically as his “weakness” and “indecisiveness”, often juxtaposed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s perceived “muscular” style of leadership.

These perceptions have had an interesting turnaround over the last couple of months. Gandhi and Congress have relentlessly attacked Modi for being overly deferential to the United States President Donald Trump, capitulating to his whims, his regressive tariffs, and frequent policy flip-flops. The opposition bloc’s criticism centres on the Prime Minister’s continued silence on repeated statements by Trump and his administration that undermine India’s sovereignty.

This silence, of course, needs to be questioned. It is also worth noting that India is not the only country caught in this uneasy position. Great European powers, long-time American allies like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have largely chosen accommodation over confrontation. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been the only European leader to stand up to Trump, who, in his second term, has unleashed absolute mayhem.

India’s troubling apathy is now extended – inexplicably, even a war launched by the US and Israel on Iran has not broken the silence. We are often told by foreign policy pundits that Indian diplomacy is guided solely by national interest. But does that mean a nation must abandon its moral compass altogether? Must ethics have no place in geopolitics? Are morals irrelevant to national interest?

If the Holocaust is rightly remembered as an unprecedented act against humanity, can the indiscriminate bombing that has killed vast numbers of Palestinian civilians in Gaza – many of them women and children – and reduced homes to rubble, while imposing blockade-driven starvation, be morally ignored? Why has India, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, fallen silent?

Does a president intoxicated by unbridled power and fueled by an inflated ego have the right to violate constitutional norms and the UN Charter, deciding which country’s leader is acceptable and which must be overthrown? Surrounded by fawning hawks eager for confrontation, can he unilaterally decide to decapitate regimes through assassination, bombing or forced removal?

If Iran’s political system under its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is condemned as theocratic and authoritarian, what does that say of the West Asian monarchies that remain trusted allies of the US?

Who can forget the chilling murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – a killing widely linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? Yet the outrage quickly faded. The Trump administration at the time declined to release the report on the killing. The hypocrisy was glaring.

This hypocrisy is not new. For decades, the US has supported dictators who granted it access to military bases, oil or minerals, while opposing communist regimes or Islamist groups such as ISIS and the Taliban when it suited its strategic interests.

Iran has been a friend to India. At the same time, since the diplomatic opening under former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India has built closer ties with Israel. These ties can strengthen defence cooperation, which is critical to India’s resistance against Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism. But friendship also carries responsibility. It should give India the moral space to urge Israel towards the two-state solution, the only path to lasting peace in the region.

When Modi visited Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and told Vladimir Putin, “This is not the era of war,” he won applause across the world. The Prime Minister spoke plainly, without rupturing India’s relations with Moscow. That was statesmanship.

Today, India has a similar opportunity. As the world’s largest democracy, imperfect but vibrant, it must speak in one voice for principle. It must condemn unilateral aggression by powerful nations against the weaker ones and the destabilisation of regions through military adventurism, and unequivocally oppose the killing of the innocent through acts that resemble State terrorism.

Such clarity would serve India’s national interest far better than cautious silence. For, in international affairs, as in life, respect rarely follows those who appear to hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.

Let us recall Rabindranath Tagore’s timeless lines from Gitanjali:

“This is my prayer to thee, my Lord – strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart...

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.”

The writer builds bridges, sometimes by tearing down walls. He is a soldier, farmer, and entrepreneur.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.