Indian Influence in Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war has changed geo-political dynamics.It has created a situation that is altering the existing power structures in the world.India cannot remain oblivious from such developments.India has been asserting from time to time to speak for the vulnerable and developing countries.When India got independence from the British colonialism,it was the time of decolonisation.Most of the colonies were witnessing the freedom or were on the verge of attaining freedom from the foreign yoke.British colonialism had devastated Indian socio-political moorings and the economic well-being. Moreover,what added to the problems was the partition of India and the refugee problem that India inherited with freedom.This situation indeed posed a serious risk for the unity and integrity of India.Indian leaders adopted the path of neutrality in the foreign affairs and ended up embracing non-alignment as the cardinal principle of the foreign policy.That may have been the need of the hour then and indeed it served the national interest for quite a long period of time in the international diplomacy.But it also affected the national interests. The reason being that the Great Game was already being played in the frontier areas to sow the seeds of balkanisation in India.Not only that cold war was also picking up speed and the world was divided into two power blocs.That created grouping of nations based on their national interest. What added to the woes of India was the sphere of influence of China that encircled India top from the Himalayas down to the seas.Thus strangulating the Indian rise.Besides Pakistan managed to send inflated requisition to the USA during the cold war.So that it can divert a large chunk of dollars and weaponry into Jammu and Kashmir under the guise of Afghan war to fight the so called American war against the erstwhile USSR.Operation TOPAC orchestrated by the Pakistani military dictator,Generla Zia-ul-Haq was the outcome of these scheme of things.Pumping weapons and foreign mercenaries into Kashmir valley to inflict a war that was projected as an act of non –state actors.Now things have changed.India cannot be a mute spectator to the changing geo-politics.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine and his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a departure from the traditional Indian policy of non-alignment.It shows India’s pragmatic policy guided by the national inetrest.Prime Minister Modi has previously visited Russia as well and given due credence to the time tested India-Russia friendship when he met the President Vladimir Putin.Not only that when the Indian Prime Minister was in Kyiv.Indian Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh was in Washington.He sent a clear message through the Indian diaspora emphasising the message of Vasudeva Kutumbakam (whole world is one family).He termed India and USA as natural allies.It is clear that India has learned its lessons well from the times of Great Game to the Cold War that isolation can’t serve the national interest. India has to engage and assert and utilise its influence to shape the geo-political dynamics of the world.Otherwise,India’s inertia will leave it in a situation that will not be in sync with the Indian interests. After all India will have to speak for itself and put forth its opinion in the present changing world order.India cannot be a fence sitter.India has to keep the engagements on with multiple world players.So that India’s national interest is not undermined. When Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was travelling from Warsaw to Kyiv,Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang was culminating his visit to Moscow.China is asserting not only on Indian borders but beyond to extend its influence.India can’t afford to be sloppy. Ukraine is not just a case of confrontation between Russia and NATO or for that matter West but also about the extension of Indian and Chinese assertion beyond Asia into the wider geo-politics.India’s assertion in diplomacy beyond Asia is need of the hour.