Why US' political developments must caution India
Many political scientists argue that the incidents that occurred in Washington DC on January 7, 2021, was a blot on the world’s most powerful democracy, the United States of America. Being a democratic country but at the same time, joining hands either overtly or covertly with the world’s most dictatorial states and trying to wield power over other developing and democratic countries, the US had to witness an incident such as this someday or the other. This is an extension of its interference with other sovereign countries in the garb of democracy.
Under the Presidency of Trump, the country has turned against itself in the worst manner possible. America’s relation with democracy weakened the day it elected a racist who has utter disregard and contempt for democracy and the dignity of the common man. The racism perpetrated by the administration during Trump’s Presidency exposed America’s democratic mask long ago. The farcical end to Trump’s administration through this incident reflects his personality and America’s present situation. We can’t blame only Trump for these developments. The rightist forces that are now regulating America are responsible for bringing the country’s democracy to the present state of disrepute. At the same time, we can’t expect things to become normal the moment Trump exits.
In fact, going by the manner in which Donald Trump, a white racist, governed and administered the country in the most dangerous and worst manner, there was no way that the occasion of President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in could have been different. The model of violence that Trump chose before exiting office is similar to Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler’s suicide. Unable to witness his most anticipated dream of a 1000-year Nazi rule being shattered, Hitler had resorted to suicide along with other fascist criminals in Berlin’s underground bunker. Trump has shown similar behavior. With this incident, Trump hasn’t lost anything. But America might find itself in an awkward situation to pride itself as the ‘most powerful democratic country’ in the coming days.
America’s embarrassment is about how a President without the support of his party leaders could whip up the support of racists, terrorists, and goonda elements to overturn election results. It won’t be a surprise if this small failed revolution leads to a big revolution in the future.
The incidents that occurred on January 7 should be seen as acts of treason aimed at overthrowing democratic rule in America. If these actions were planned and implemented by members of the black community and not white supremacists, hundreds of people would have lost their lives. The way America is squeezing its hands over taking stringent action against Trump and his followers reveals the depth of the divisiveness in America. This also proves how the evils of racism, gender discrimination, and corporate structure control America. As long as the American government fails to take action against Trump and his followers, it cannot be accepted that democracy has been reinstalled completely in America. Today, due to his bad administration, Trump has grown to become an international criminal. Many countries have issued international arrest warrants against him. The world is watching with curiosity about how America will punish Trump for conspiring against his own country, forget conspiring against other countries.
Ironically, India should also indirectly own up the stigma of America’s attack on the Congress as it now finds itself in an awkward situation with the presence of an Indian flag during the attack. It is not difficult to trace the background of this. Having established itself as a third powerful force internationally by adopting a non-aligned stand in external affairs, India now finds itself compromising its foreign policy to woo America. The manner in which India woos America reached a pathetic state during the Narendra Modi regime. It went to the extent of interfering in America’s elections with the Indian Prime Minister campaigning in favor of Trump. With this, India identified itself as a worker of a political party in the US. ‘Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkaar,’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on American soil. Modi did not show the wisdom of imagining a situation in the eventuality of Trump’s losing the elections and how it could have an adverse impact on India. Today, if the Indian flag is seen during the attack on the US Congress, it is because of Narendra Modi’s declaration of ‘Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkaar.’ Even though Narendra Modi expressed his regret over the developments in America, India lost its moral authority to condemn the incident due to Modi’s behavior.
At this moment, we should not forget that India has a government that had looked upon Trump as a model. An Indian Prime Minister who is a puppet in the hands of organizations that are more divisive and casteist than Trump is ruling the country. Instead of believing that the country is more important than an individual, the number of people who believe that an individual is more important than the country is growing. Bhakths who believe that the Prime Minister cannot be criticized even though the country is being ruined would definitely turn out to be more dangerous to India than Trump’s supporters to the US. America’s developments should come as a timely warning to India.
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Russian military hardware, spare parts for Indian military to be manufactured in India
New Delhi (PTI): Russia agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of military hardware and spare parts for maintenance of Russian-origin arms and defence equipment.
Ways to bolster overall bilateral defence cooperation figured prominently during summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
It has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that the supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time, affecting the maintenance of military systems procured from that country.
"Both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology," a joint statement said.
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It said both sides also agreed to set up joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian armed forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.
The joint statement said the India-Russia defence partnership is being reoriented to take up joint co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.
In their meeting on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov resolved to expand bilateral defence cooperation.
In the meeting, the Indian side showed keen interest in procurement of additional batches of S-400 missile systems from Moscow to bolster its combat prowess.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
The S-400 systems played a crucial role during Operation Sindoor. India may also look at procuring the S-500 missile systems from Russia.
In the Modi-Putin talks, the two sides also agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral trade settlements through the use of national currencies.
Additionally, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems, financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.
Modi and Putin appreciated the ongoing intensification of the joint work on a free trade agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, covering sectors of mutual interest, the joint statement said.
They also directed both sides to intensify efforts in negotiations on a mutually beneficial agreement on the promotion and protection of investment, it said.
India and Russia also welcomed steps to ensure long-term supply of fertilisers to India and discussed the potential establishment of joint ventures in this area.
