Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Indians are heavily dozed with ultra-Hinduist opium, while the country is currently facing the worst-ever crisis posed by the coronavirus pandemic, which is followed by an increased rate of unemployment. Although Indian media and the state machinery are continuing extensive propaganda stating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government is “working hard to fight Covid-19 and save precious lives”, the reality is – Indian authorities are not only hiding the real number of deaths, it also is suppressing information about the exact number of coronavirus patients in the country. According to some experts, the real number of coronavirus patients in India has already crossed five million while the death toll is a hundred thousand plus.
On the other hand, the Indian economy is heading towards a grand recession, which might last for at least 5-6 years and the rate of unemployment would reach an alarming level, meaning, for India, a very dangerous future is just waiting.
While India will be struggling in fighting its upcoming acute economic crisis and unemployment issue, its army is continuously reminding New Delhi of an “imperialist aggression” by China, which would ultimately pose the gravest threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity.
On June 15 during a hand-to-hand confrontation between the Indian and Chinese border troops, over 250 Indian soldiers, including some officers were killed, while the number of deaths on the Chinese side were less than 10. One of the Indian army officers killed in Galwan Valley in Ladakh was the commanding officer of the 16th Bihar Regiment. Indian military analysts are seeing the Ladakh clash as “the worst since 1967”.
India’s former Ambassador to China, Gautam Bambawale alleged that Beijing does not believe in its 1003 Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement and subsequent confidence-building agreements with India. He said, “China has assumed the right to unilaterally define the LAC (Line of Actual Control) and to move its ground positions accordingly”.
Former diplomat Jayant Prasad warns against any complacency vis-à-vis China because of the defusing of recent standoffs in Depsang, Chumar, and Doklam. There are reports in the Indian media of a Chinese build-up at Pangong Tso, in India’s eastern Ladakh.
According to economic analysts, India cannot take on China economically. The current balance of India-China trade, according to one estimate, is in favor of Beijing. India’s imports from China in 2019-2020 reached $65 billion out of $81 billion in two-way trade.
New Delhi exports raw materials and intermediate products and imports finished products. Indian manufacturing depends on supplies from China.
India imports fertilizers from China as well as critical medical supplies.
India does not attract global supply chains. China is still central to a large number of such chains. Some companies are moving out of China, but they are heading mainly toward Southeast Asia, not India.
While India is heading to an acute and long-lasting economic disaster, its relations with the neighboring nations are gradually turning bitter. Nepal, for example, which had been a trusted ally of India has already switched to its national pride and has started implementing a number of projects with Chinese assistance. It is anticipated that within the next 3-4 years, Nepal will see heavy investments from China, which would gradually dash-out India’s influence as well as various forms of benefits from this mountainous country.
While India claims it is making diplomatic efforts to bring global support, India’s foreign policy, right now, is more anti-China than it is pro-India. India is persuading other nations to turn their backs against China. However, in the global economy, China is arguably one of the two major powers, while India’s position is way down the list. This will ultimately make India’s efforts of turning nations against China go in vain. While India, to the world, had the image of a peace-loving, secular nation in the past, it is now emerging as a radical Hindu state – which is no less a threat to the world than Taliban Afghanistan, Baghdadi’s Iraq, or any other radical Islamic state. India’s allies are slowly realizing that India might soon turn into an intolerant and extremist Hindu state, which will ultimately become hostile not only to Muslims but to Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities too. Realizing this, Nepal, once a strong ally of India, has moved away. Even Russia, India’s another big ally, has started changing its policies towards India.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning anti-jihadist journalist, counter-terrorism specialist and editor of Blitz
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