Ukraine Crisis : India’s balanced stand
We all know that India is continuously abstaining from voting against Russia from each and every resolution that is brought up on table in the UN so far over the issue of Ukraine. India’s neutral stand on this issue is currently the subject of discussion all over the world and various countries are reviewing India’s foreign policy keeping in mind their own interests.
Keeping Gandhi’s ideology of prime importance, India as a country, has always been a supporter of non-violence, and has advocated for the path of dialogue rather than any military conflict.
In this conflict also between Ukraine and Russia, India has chosen its old and tested policy of non-alignment. India is constantly demanding for a ceasefire and urging both the nations to resolve the issue by peace talks.
India is also continuously providing humanitarian aid to the war affected country. India is continuously in touch with both the fighting country, as well as European countries, USA and other major countries over the issue.
It is estimated that there are around twenty thousand Indians in the war affected country, and India has clearly passed this message to all the directly and indirectly involved countries of this conflict that the security and wellness of these Indians is India’s highest priority.
India has deployed four of its Union Ministers for this task and this is the result of India’s diplomatic success that more than eighteen thousand Indians are evacuated from the war zone by this time, and it is estimated that the rest will be evacuated successfully in the next few days.
However Western countries are demanding from India to vote against Russia. They want India to take a stand against Russia. The media and leaders there can be constantly seen taunting India’s neutral attitude in different ways.
There are some reasons to talk about why India is continuously abstaining from giving a vote in the UN or choosing a side. To understand this we have to look back into history.
There has always been a great and trusted friendship between India and Russia (erstwhile USSR). The Russians have always represented Indian interests at the UNSC since 1957 and have never hesitated to use their veto when necessary. There have been six occasions since then, not one or two, when Russia has blocked proposals against India.
In 1957 when Australia, Cuba, the UK and the US brought a resolution urging the President of the UNSC to talk to India and Pakistan to resolve the issue. For this, it was suggested to persuade both the countries to withdraw their respective armies from the disputed area. There was also a proposal that the United Nations should temporarily deploy its force in Kashmir. The then Soviet Union used its veto power against the resolution.
In 1961, France, Turkey, the UK and the US brought a joint resolution against India in the Security Council objecting to India’s use of military forces in Goa and Daman and Diu. In the resolution, there was a demand from the Government of India to withdraw the army and restore the situation before 17 December 1961. The Soviet Union, Ceylon (then Sri Lanka), Liberia and the UAE supported India in opposing the proposal. At the same time, Chile, China, Ecuador, France, Turkey, the UK and the US supported the resolution opposing India.
During the discussion on the debate, Soviet Ambassador to the UN Valerian Zorin said, “The defenders of Portugal are not favouring the interests of the United Nations but in favour of colonialism, which is the most shameful philosophy of the 20th century. However, those countries have taken the opposite step dozens of times.”
Similarly in 1962 again on the issue of Kashmir, with the support of America, Ireland had brought a resolution in the Security Council, in which the governments of India and Pakistan were demanded to resolve the Kashmir dispute. It said that both the governments should create such an environment so that an agreement can be reached through dialogue. The USSR again imposed veto power against the proposal.
A resolution led by the US was demanded to implement a ceasefire on the India-Pakistan border in 1971, against which Russia used veto power.
The then Jana Sangh (later BJP) president Atal Bihari Vajpayee had welcomed Russia’s veto by mentioning this in a speech in a rally, “Whoever will support us in the current crisis is our friend. The battle of ideology will be fought later.”
We must acknowledge that Jana Sangh has always opposed the Left ideology, which was led by the then Soviet Union and now Russia.
Again in 1971 itself, two more proposals were brought in UNSC against India on the issue of ceasefire and migration of the citizens, and on both occasions USSR used its veto in favour of India.
In a major event during the Indo — Pakistan war in 1971, when US Naval war ships and Britain’s Aircraft carrier were heading towards West Pakistan (Bangladesh) in Bay of Bengal, it was Soviet Navy who stopped them to jump into this conflict by deploying a submarine armed with nuclear missiles, supported by two groups of cruiser and destroyers.
On mentioning all these events, it becomes clear that Russia (USSR) has supported India on every occasion in history. Russia is India’s biggest defence partner, as well as they helped India in every difficult and adverse situation by providing different types of aids on various occasions. But these past events are not the only factor in deciding the vote of India in UNSC.
Now when we come back to the Ukraine issue, we can say that Western Countries are directly involved in this conflict, because they are members of EU and NATO and the whole conflict is about Ukraine joining NATO. In this way, USA and NATO have literally pushed Ukraine to fight against Russia, to resist against Russia but now they are not helping Ukraine. They are sending some weapons, military aids to Ukraine in the middle of the war now but they know that it will not help Ukraine and it is too late.
These Western countries are allegedly providing military aids to Ukraine after the 2014 standoff. They are the ones who are continuously mocking and provoking Russia in the past, from the time of disintegration of the USSR.
Western countries along with USA have imposed various so called ‘strict sanctions’ on Russia, like they have restricted trades with Russia, they have restricted Russian flights in their air space, they are also advising their companies to wrap up their business in Russia and the funny thing is, on the other hand most of the countries in Europe are still importing oil and gas from Russia even after this war because this is in their own interest, but they want India to act against Russia, to restrict trade with Russia, that will eventually lead to the bad relations of India and Russia. Western experts even believe that this is the best time for them to move India away from Russia.
Recently NATO also denied Ukraine’s request to close Ukrainian airspace and the thing is that NATO will never intervene in this conflict directly, because that will eventually lead to a World War or maybe a nuclear war.
India being flag bearer of Non-Aligned Movement, never took any side in this conflict. India is continuously opposing the act of war, but India is not a part of this conflict, we are not in the region of this conflict and we are not the cause of this war.
As stated earlier India is concerned more about its citizens there than anything. Russia is assuring India for the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from the western part of the war zone by providing a humanitarian passage to the Russian land. India is also in talks with the Ukrainian government for the safe evacuation of Indian nationals.
We have seen there political and economic elites, there media persons openly threatening India in various ways, but the truth is western countries still have that colonial mindset, USA still has the false feeling of being a superpower and they want other countries to act according to the tone set by them.
India is trying to bring the two countries on the table for the peace talks. India has its own concerns and is acting accordingly. India has its own stand on this issue. India also has its own interests with both the countries and India is trying to minimise the damage to itself during this global economic crisis arising out of these sanctions.
The thing is that the US, Europe and NATO have done what they can and are doing what they can. India is promoting world peace and fraternity and India is also doing what they need, but these countries can not tell India what to do next.
Comments
Post a Comment