Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 09/Sep 15:36

India’s Soft Power And Hopes Of Being A Peace Broker In Russia-Ukraine War – OpEd

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Ukraine and his meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky towards the end of August this year was geared to restore the soft power resources (the ability to attract and be acceptable) that India was losing in the perception of the West in general and Ukraine in particular over the course of more than two and a half years of war. Just a month back in mid-July, President Zelensky had criticized the Indian leader when the former saw the latter closely embracing Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a trip to Moscow on a day of deadly Russian strikes, including one on Kyiv's biggest children's hospital. As many other countries did, India neither condemned nor did it blame Russia for the war. India's abstention from all UN resolutions pertaining to Ukraine demanding a Russian withdrawal or condemning the war as well as relating to Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territories also led to lower its image as a peace-loving country. However, India's desire not to be a direct party to the war and its continued stress on diplomatic resolution to the conflict have now raised the prospect that it could possibly play a pivotal role in mediating the conflict once Modi's visit to Ukraine helped clear the growing misperception that India was indirectly helping Russia under the guise of neutrality. The Prime Minister was the head of the government of India who was making the first ever visit to Ukraine since it became an independent republic. Modi acclaimed India as a land of Mahatma Gandhi and informed Zelensky that he had spoken to Putin and 'looked him in the eye' and told him that 'this is not the era for war'. He further said India never maintained neutrality in the war rather it was categorically in favour of peace and diplomatic resolution of the war. Amid the Russia-Ukraine prolonged war, India imported natural resources such as oil with subsidized prices from Moscow notwithstanding diplomatic pressure from the West to isolate it. India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in response to the alleged accusation from certain quarters of the West that India was indirectly financing Russia's war remarked: "I have a country that has a per capita income of two thousand dollars," and "these are not people who can afford higher energy prices". During Modi's visit to Ukraine, India tried to clarify further on its energy politics. India continued to import essential defense equipment from Russia amid the war. Despite diversification of defence imports and India's ever growing strategic partnership with the US, the country still depends on Russia for essential components of several advanced weapons systems including its fighter aircraft, cruise missiles, submarines, and land warfare platforms. On the other side, India eagerly maintained strategic partnership with the US and secured a waiver from the US for importing S-400 missile from Russia. The country tried to deftly manage ties with the two significant global players. Apart from India's dependence on Russia for oil and gas and defence equipment and technology, the country also considered it could not afford to put its weight behind the Western move to isolate Russia that would push Moscow even closer to China. Second, a multipolar world order in which India sees its interests best-served could only be realized with preservation of Russia's position as a great power. Despite the country's compulsions and justifications for its actions and inactions relating to the war dynamics, India could not have made its point understood unless Modi visited and directly talked to the Ukrainian leader. India's unwillingness to take sides in the war despite diplomatic pressures from the west has also influenced Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek India's mediating role in the war. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will be visiting Moscow to take forward the process. In the June 15-16 summit hosted by Switzerland, while India joined delegations, it declined to sign the final communique putatively because Russia was not part of it. From Gandhian Non-violence to Nehruvian Non-alignment as Sources of India's Soft Power  While Modi himself hailed India as a country of Mahatma Gandhi in Ukraine, it is germane to understand how Mohandas K Gandhi (1869-1948) contributed to the country's soft that kept evolving through first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the current Prime Minister Modi. Gandhi is known for his contribution to turning mass mobilization against British imperial rule into non-violent movements for Indian independence, also used non-violence as a tool to fight social injustices such as racial discrimination and untouchability (the practice associated with the Indian hierarchical caste order). The Gandhian idea and practice of non-violence were inspired by the principle of ahimsa (doing no harm), a creed integral to the Indian spiritual tradition enriched by Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Gandhi called his non-violent movement "satyagraha," implying the use of the force of truth as a way to convert the opponent by winning over his mind and heart and persuading him to accept and adopt the moral and right course of action. Influenced by Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, the innovative non-aligned foreign policy of Nehru challenged and provided an alternative to hard-hitting power politics of the Cold War era by forming a community of nations who strived for global peace, decolonization and disarmament. India was able to be one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement for long, which was also a major source of India's soft power. Indian assistance was crucial to the John F Kennedy administration's efforts at stabilizing Congo and its significant contribution to defusing the Korean crisis led to its appointment as chair of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission. India was also asked to chair the International Control Commission set up under the Geneva Accords for its contribution to peace in Indochina. India and other Afro-Asian countries received massive aid from both superpowers for their moral and numerical strength. Despite ideological closeness and a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, India could still be acceptable to the US and could draw the latter to its viewpoints with its soft power resources. Whenever India requested for American assistance during the Cold War, it received be it during the border war with China in 1962 or food assistance under US PL-480 programme. Similarly, despite the then American administration's continued support for the Pakistan General's attempt to subdue East Pakistan's independence struggle, an American Gallup poll in 1971 voted the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the most admired person in the world for her role in the creation of independent Bangladesh. The American administration eventually withdrew its military support during the last stage of the war. Notwithstanding, Modi government's preference for the concept of multi-alignment instead of non-alignment, India's response to Russia-Ukraine war closely corresponds to the country's non-aligned stance. When Modi said India was not pursuing a foreign policy course of neutrality, he foregrounded the significance of non-alignment which did not mean neutrality rather entailed positive actions towards global peace including mediation of Cold War related disputes.   India still harbors the willingness to play a greater role towards leading the Global South amid the dysfunctionality of non-alignment as a Movement not as a foreign policy choice. The country has enhanced its soft power resources under the leadership of Modi during India's presidency in the G-20 and SCO groupings in 2022 and 2023. Now, India's acceptability to both sides of the war allows it to act as a peace broker in the Russia-Ukraine War much like the Palestinian Ambassador to India has recently urged India to play a mediating role in the Israel-Hamas war as he argued it is a friend to both Israel and Palestine.