Overconfident India and the West: A Time for Caution

Mukesh Devrari 

The 2024 is almost coming to an end. The Modi govt was elected for the third time in May 2024. It is also evident to most voters that the BJP has no new ideas. It is also a signal that Modi’s political career will come to an end in 2029. He is already 74 years old, and the physical and political fatigue is palpable in his body language, speeches, and campaigns. Undoubtedly, he is a good captain who lacks good players in his team. He has no choice but to appoint critical ministers. Most of the BJP leaders are either thoroughly corrupt or incompetent. Most had no exposure and were likely to burden India’s standing in the world. 

It is fair to assume that the Modi govt is trying to bring FDI to India. It is implementing all policy suggestions provided by the corporate world. There is panacea to solve the plethora of problems this country faces. The BJP itself creates some of the issues. The confrontation with Canada is unnecessary due to the following reasons. First, Canada is part of the Western world. It has deep ties with developed nations of white races. It can be considered an extension of the United States as Israel is. Second, millions of Indians aspire to move to developed countries. Like all other developed countries, Canada is also facing a dwindling population. It has no choice but to fill the gaps by bringing immigrants from different countries. Indian nationals can try their luck to find a better life in Canada. Thirdly, Canada is also deeply connected with US intelligence agencies and the defense manufacturing sector.

The Modi government inaugurated the recently established factory in Gujarat to assemble C295 planes, but it was not widely reported that the plane's engine would be imported from Canada. This means that trade with Canada helps India as well. As India is a low-income country, deteriorating relations will hurt the country more. Fourthly, Khalistani extremists suffer from verbal diarrhea. They have no actual capacity to launch militancy in Punjab. Their exaggerated claims hardly pose any real threat to India. And India could pressure social media to stop their propaganda from reaching India. There was no need to launch intelligence operations to kill Khalistani extremists in Canada. Trudeau may be making false and unsubstantiated claims. 

This controversy will be over in a couple of weeks. If Canada persisted with their propaganda war, it would impact the overall coordination of the Western powers with India. Let’s consider that Canada’s charges against India are real for a moment. Indian intelligence agencies eliminated Nijjar, and Home Minister Amit Shah signed the file for the operation. And the RAW officer named by the US is really behind the operation. Even if all Canadian charges are accurate, it would be foolish for Canada or its Western allies to expect that India would take action against RAW officers or Amit Shah would face the consequences for it. 

India is a friendly nation to Western powers. It would not be wrong to assume that the top leadership of major Western powers has a cordial relationship with the Modi government. And the remarks by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti implicitly suggested that India was pleading in front of the US and Canada that this would not happen again and no Khalistani would be targeted by the Indian intelligence agencies. However, the US ambassador adds in equal breath, “saying this is not enough. We want the Modi government to punish the people behind this operation”. US leadership understands that pushing this issue beyond a point will result in more confrontation. Nothing can be said or done what already has been done in this case. That means assurances that intelligence agencies will halt their operations in Canada. However, that does not mean India would not observe and collect information about the Khalistan propaganda and hate-mongering against India in Western nations.  

Lastly, India is highly confident but lacks the military, technological, or economic capability to substantiate it. We must remain low profile and wait for our time—no point in seeking confrontation with Western powers that control this planet. And we cannot make economic progress without the support of developed countries of the West. It would not be wrong to say the future of 1.4 billion is at stake. We must seek Western cooperation as China has done. Otherwise, India’s economic progress would not be possible.  

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