Redefining the Republic

The 75th Republic Day that India celebrates today must lead to introspection among all sections of the society. It must make everyone ponder as to what path we have taken after passing through the Amrit Kaal. From domestic challenges to the international affairs India is negotiating many new issues that are totally different from the era when the nation gained independence and later adopted the constitution. We have surpassed many peculiar issues that were posing a threat to the nation building and acting as impediments in the national integration. Two important developments must be put on record. One the neutralisation of the Article 370 and 35 A that brought Jammu and Kashmir in the national mainstream and erased a sense of otherness from the psyche of the masses. Another was the Supreme Court’s verdict to settle the Shree Ram Temple issue at Ayodhya and paving the way for its construction. It ended the dispute that had developed socio-political fault lines in the society. Settlements of these two issues that affected the development of the nation will surely put the nation on the path of peace and stability. Besides that technologically our scientists have been doing a commendable job by exploring the space that includes the investigation of the secrets of the outer space. The successful mission to the Moon by the ISRO and then reaching out to the Sun speaks volumes about the confidence and conviction of the India’s scientific community to make India resurgent. That is one aspect which makes us feel both proud and optimistic that the new India is not ready to be in the inertia and the hangover of the old days when pain of partition and the joy of independence evoked the mixed feelings. India is today one of the leading economies of the world. Besides that it has developed a leverage to redefine the geostrategic calculations in terms of keeping the world multipolar. India has been influencing the initiatives of peace keeping form the days of early independence. But now it has walked a long distance and is counted among the top five military powers that can alter the strategic calculus not only of Asia but the entire world. It is in this context we must see the arrival of the French President, Emmanuel Macron as the national guest on this year’s Republic Day. France has always stood by India when it comes to safeguard the Indian national interests. France has been in the forefront of the idea of the multipolar world right from the 1990.It has been the votary of the coalitions to restrict the US interventions in the international issues that concern all. India was also well sensitised about the potential danger that US can pose when it came to India’s stand on Jammu and Kashmir. And its policy of rolling back India’s nuclear weaponisation that India carried out to develop the deterrent due to the hostile neighbourhood and the threat of religious terrorism. In such precarious situations France has stood by India and held its neck out to support India’s entry into the elite nuclear club. France helped to deflect the non-proliferation pressures on India from the members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).Recently, a few years ago France stood by India in the UNSC when China attempted to internationalise the Jammu and Kashmir issue in 2019.In such a backdrop we must welcome the French President, Emmanuel Macron to India and strengthen the Indo-France ties. To be more precise, today when there is a surge in the US towards the emergence of Donald Trump in the run up the new Presidency. India must be alert to the new equations. In his previous tenure he had laid stress on the America first policy. This policy of looking inwards and then its continuity by the incumbent President must be kept in mind. Though in his previous tenure Trump had developed a chemistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine hostility will surely shape the strategic calculations. In such a scenario India must value its relations with France. Neither multipolarity nor the strategic autonomy must define the Modi-Macron relationship. It must look into the emerging world order. The recent  attacks  in the Red Sea on the private vessels  by the Houthis  of Yemen is a well-crafted threat patronised by the nexus of radical religious terrorists and the mercenaries who are out to destabilise the water frontiers and targeting the world economies. India is in the forefront of this threat. It has to be addressed so that Indian Ocean Region is safeguarded from these terror acts. India and France must delve on the issues like this; how to India can contribute to mitigating this threat and European security at large? As India is a formidable military power. It can’t be denied that no threat to global security can be addressed without the involvement of India in the strategic calculus. This Republic Day Indian policy makers must put their heads together and identify the global role for India to redefine its strategic calculus.