India’s stand of non-alignment

(Mains GS 2 : Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.)

Context:

• India hopes for peace to be returned at the earliest as Russia-Ukraine developments are a challenge for not only economic recovery but to resolving a humanitarian crisis in the making.

Devise flexible formula:

• There are various claims and counterclaims about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it is widely recognised that Russia has legitimate security concerns as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is already at its doorstep. 
• The saga of broken promises and commitments, albeit oral, given at the highest level by the West to Russia that NATO will not be expanded eastwards, closer to Russia, is well documented.
• However, that does not justify the invasion of Ukraine but the President of Ukraine ought to have been more flexible in devising some formula which would have accommodated Russia’s concerns, as for example by announcing adherence to the Minsk agreements.

Manage the distrust:

• A large part of the world has condemned the Russian invasion quite rightly because it is a gross violation of the universally accepted principle of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
• Ukraine is in no position to defend itself against Russian might thus there is no doubt that Russia can and will prevail but the resistance put up by the Ukrainian people under President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership is impressive.
• The West  should understand Russia’s concern holistically and pave the way for more innovative solutions and manage the distrust towards Russia that lies deep in the western psyche.

Challenging for India

• India is in a difficult position as on the one hand, there is the growing relationship with the United States and on the other hand, there is Russia with whom we have a long-standing history of friendship.
• India-U.S. relations have never been in a better position than today especially in the defence sector and much is also made of the famous Quad (India, the United States, Australia and Japan) which is to contain China.
• However, Russia is still our principal source of military hardware and is willing, more than other countries, to share the technology involved.
• Russia has also helped us out in the United Nations on many occasions and one can hardly forget how they stalled action in the UN for several days at the time of the 1971 Bangladesh war to enable India to ‘finish the job’. 

National interest:

• The Russian invasion is wrong by every principle of international law but the only lasting principle in foreign policy is the principle of national interest.
• National interest will always trump principles as reflected from what Nehru did at the time of the Soviet Union marching with tanks into Hungary in 1956; he did not condemn the Soviet action.
• India’s stand stood out in stark contrast to our stand on the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression on Egypt, which we condemned, when it nationalised the Suez Canal the same year.

Conclusion:

• Under the circumstances, the Government had done well by maintaining a kind of neutral position by demonstrating the classical Nehruvian policy of non-alignment.