An uncertain and rocky ride

WHETHER ECONOMIC FRICTION CAN BE RECONCILED WITH STRATEGIC AUTONOMY IS A FRAUGHT QUESTION

- ANITA INDER SINGH

“ROCKY RIDE" often creates or reflects “uncertainty”. Those two labels describe the current Indo-US relationship.

US President Donald Trump’s latest claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him in a phone call that India would stop buying Russian oil has been denied by Delhi. India has retorted that no such phone call took place. Questions about trust and dependability are raised by India, which earlier denied Trump’s assertion that he brokered an India-Pakistan ceasefire in the summer. Once again, is India lying, or is Trump?

Until Trump 2.0, Indo-US ties were marked by frequent references to the world’s largest democracies. But the democratic decline of both countries is now frequently and hotly debated among liberal democracies. Democracy also implied that India and the US could publicly disagree with each other because democracy is, first and foremost, about intellectual and political choice. But a hypersensitive Delhi has, on occasion, criticised the US media, which is politically and intellectually independent, for its biased coverage of India. Delhi also seems to forget that the Indian media and nonofficial Indians often criticise the US. In contrast, the American media and government don’t react to Indian stricture.

During the Cold War, the US displayed its superpower through its economic prowess and military alliances. Aligned America was ill at ease with nonaligned India, yet democracy defined their relationship during that period and for more than three decades after the Cold War ended. Today, nonalignment has the same meaning—maximising India’s foreign policy options. The terms “strategic autonomy” and “multi-alignment” are favoured by India’s current political dispensation.