Jawad Falak
On 7 April 2021, the US Navy conducted a ‘navigation operation’ within Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without any intimation to India.
To add insult to injury, the US 7th Fleet openly officially admitted the maneuver, saying, “On April 7, 2021 (local time) USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles West of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s EEZ, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law.”
It further stated the operation was important in “challenging India’s excessive maritime claims”. This incident has sent a shockwave in India which saw itself as an indispensible ally to the US.
A famous quote of John F Kennedy comes to mind “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside”.
It exemplifies the price of power to be paid by those who tried to bandwagon with those more powerful than themselves.
While Kennedy used this quote at the height of the Cold War to highlight the plight of those countries who tried to gain power by joining the Communist Bloc and thus opening themselves to domination by authoritarian communist governments, it could be valid for those who allied themselves to the US as well.
India is one such country who despite portraying itself as an preeminent world power due to it being an “external civilization”, has always strived to team up with various global powers to advance its own lust for influence.
After its creation in 1947, India chose a duplicitous policy of “Nonalignment “while exploiting fears of both the Western and Communist blocs in order to pursue a hegemonic agenda in South Asia.
After the end of the Cold War, India started ingratiating itself more and more with the victorious United States in order to cement its brutal role Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K) and also dampen global opposition to human right abuses in its territories.
With the start of the new millennium, India began to utilize the forum of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) as a means to exploit the emerging multipolar order while still also using the US in order to abuse the waning unipolar moment for its own ends.
The rise of Modi regime in 2014 saw an even more shift towards the West particularly the US perhaps in order to stave off the preeminence of China in Asia.
Despite the forum of BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) available, the clashes with China highlights that India has always pursued an agenda of playing both sides.
India has always seen itself as a nation too valuable that no power would dare antagonize it. This is perhaps where the Modi government has miscalculated its importance.
