View: India just missed out on a big leadership opportunity

At the public meeting in London’s imposing Methodist Central Hall in Westminster last Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the diaspora audience a pointed question: “Has the worth of the Indian passport gone up in the past few years?” The answer from the large audience, many of whom had stood in a queue for more than three hours, was an emphatic and unambiguous Yes. The answer would have been the same had the question been asked in Singapore, Dubai, New York and San Francisco. India is indeed basking in the glory of its rediscovered global pride. A bit of that boost in self-confidence is also associated with the halo around the Prime Minister.

This altered perception of a country that had borne the brunt of patronising disdain and condescension for much of the 70 years since Independence could not have been unknown to the motley crowd of Islamists, Khalistanis and left-liberal Modi-haters — supported enthusiastically by the Indian media — that gathered to protest outside the venue and, in the process, also desecrate an Indian flag. Maybe that was the real reason for their rage. Had India been leading a ship-to-mouth existence, begging for international aid, and its under-nourished children been featured in Oxfam posters, as used to be the case in the bad old days, the protests would have carried weight, particularly in a West that still loves the stereotype of a Third World crushed by the misdeeds of its rulers.

Mercifully, all that is in the past. India is no longer dependent on international aid. Indeed, successive governments have actively discouraged gratuitous foreign interventions to ‘improve’ the lives of people, much to the displeasure of NGOs who love to leverage poverty for grants and evangelists intent on ‘harvesting’ lost souls. India is in the G-20 and is an important donor in countries that warrant reconstruction. In the Commonwealth meet, its cautionary note checked the attempt by UK to add the multilateral body’s voice to the shrill chorus of Russophobia.

That India has begun counting may seem a welcome departure for those desis still burdened by an inferiority complex, born of centuries of servitude and prolonged economic stagnation. The audience in London, for example, was chuffed that the queen had deputed Prince Charles to convey her personal invitation to Modi to attend the Commonwealth summit in London. There was a similar degree of elation last year when Buckingham Palace was lit up in India’s national colours to mark the start of an India-UK year of culture.

The importance the political establishment of the Big Powers attaches to India — Modi has the clout to invite himself to dinner at very short notice with Angela Merkel in Berlin on his way home from the Commonwealth meet — is no doubt flattering. But there is an important unresolved problem. Indian diplomacy still appears to lack any strategic understanding of how to use this new clout. There is still a tendency to fall back to the comfort zone of negativity, a throwback to the days when India lacked the ability to set the agenda but was comfortable opposing.

Take the Commonwealth summit. It was plainly apparent that the UK was anxious to ensure that Prince Charles inherit the mantle of titular head from his mother, the queen. It was also simultaneously clear — maybe as a result of Brexit—that the UK was willing to dilute its position as the main custodian of the post-imperial legacy. London was keen that India, as the main Commonwealth player among Afro-Asian countries, would undertake more responsibilities for steering this 54-member body.

The Commonwealth is by no means a perfect institution. It is a legacy of the days when London was the centre of the world and Great Britain was the mother country. The UK kept alive the fiction of being the natural guardian of all its erstwhile dominions and colonies till 1971 when it imposed stringent immigration controls. Today, all that is history and the post-Brexit UK is looking for meaningful global partnerships outside Europe.

For India, being plugged into a 54-member club that includes chunks of Africa and the Caribbean, not to mention the possibility of a special relationship with Australia and New Zealand, presents a colossal opportunity to enhance its global footprint. The expansive Modi is still hamstrung by India’s inward-looking diplomacy.

India was in effect offered co-leadership of the Commonwealth. However, its response was underwhelming. New Delhi has not yet mentally adjusted to sitting at the high table. Its desire to not lose any opportunity to lose an opportunity remains intact.

Views expressed here are the author's own, and not EconomicTimes.com's