TheJaggi

The US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau made what many would have called a particularly revealing, and yet insensitive, comment on how the US sees partnership with India. After waxing eloquent on how this century is going to see the rise of India, and how it is both in America’s and India’s interest to partner for a win-win result, he blew it at the Raisina Dialogue on 5 March by saying: “But again, India should understand that we are not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying, we are going to let you develop all these markets, and then, the next thing we know, you are beating us in a lot of commercial things. We are going to make sure that whatever we do is fair to our people. Because ultimately, we have to be accountable to our own people, just as the Government of India has to be accountable to its people.” The question is: what exactly did Landau mean when he said that the US is “ not going to make the sam...

India has been criticised, especially by the minority vote-dependent opposition parties and the Congress, for its muted response to the Israel-US attack on Iran. Some observers have wondered if we have picked sides in a war that will impact the Indian economy as much as the rest of the world. Sonia Gandhi has been particularly vocal in her critique of the government’s silence. A close reading of the official statements made by India’s ministry of external affairs (MEA), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and Turkiye suggests that our reticence is not exactly an outlier. India’s initial statement , made on 28 February, has since been overtaken by events, with External Affairs Secretary, Vikram Misri, signing a condolence register at the Iranian embassy in Delhi. The initial statement was anodyne. It read: “India is deeply concerned at the recent developments in Iran and the Gulf region. We urge all sides to exercise restrain...