What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What is the West’s interest in the Rahul Gandhi defamation case and the court verdict?
Last week, Germany, while reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Parliament, said that it has taken note of the case and “expects that the standards of judicial independence and fundamental democratic principles will apply.”
The US Department of State’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel while regurgitating the usual American phrases reserved for the developing world/global south, like ‘shared commitment’, ‘democratic values’, ‘freedom of expression’ etc said: “Respect for the rule of law and judicial independence is a cornerstone of any democracy, and we’re watching Mr Gandhi’s case in Indian courts.”
In both cases, what doesn’t get lost on us is that there is a question mark there towards the verdict; a subtle hint that the BJP government has influenced the decision of the court. Thus the West’s sudden ‘concern’ about Indian democracy, judicial independence, and freedom of expression!
In this context, there are a few points that deserve a little scrutiny.
Number one is their point about the Indian judiciary. There are many cases that the Supreme Court of India has fast-tracked over the years. In the same manner, many cases have been put on the back burner. There have been many cases where verdicts have left the majority nation unhappy and dissatisfied. Then, there have been decisions taken by the court where the Government of India has been made to look hapless. In none of these cases have we heard the German or the American government spokespersons express their concern about the nature of Indian judiciary; there have been no sound-bytes offered to the media.
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On the contrary, specific incidents, like the arrest of Alt-News’ Mohammed Zubair charged for catalysing riots, triggered a criticism in the Western media and US government websites about India’s ‘poor religious freedom’. [What should we note? Other than being a handy pointer to what the West considers ‘religious freedom’, these incidents and the West’s reactions towards them can serve as an indicator of their political priorities where India is concerned.]
The next point is about Germany. The German military ascent between the two World Wars might not be the best example, so let us think of industrial Germany of the early 1900s. This is the nation whose rapid industrialization and scientific transformation into the biggest powerhouse in mainland Europe scared the English trade commerce and political community so much that they had to wage two mammoth trade wars (the WWs) to control it. From there, to the Germany of today – a non-entity that does not even have an opinion on matters concerning the safety or security of its own energy supplies (refer to the Seymour Hersh article on how the US sabotaged the Nord Stream) – it has been a tragic descent.
The German state of today is a weak unit that needs US ‘blessings’ to stay in business. It suffers from growing Islamism and neo-Nazi racism, illegal immigration and a minor recession due to the ongoing Ukraine war; all of these remain topped with a weak leadership. And yet, that same office has an opinion about faraway India, which it suspects, is not democratic enough.
Finally, the third and main issue: why is the West so interested in this particular case?
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I was reading an article by James Durso wherein he has remarked that the only good ally in the eyes of Washington and Brussels is the one that is a subservient ally. Now this kind of a reasoning could be because the governments there consider the present global order to be an extension of the colonial era, or could be because they are viscerally steeped in a superiority complex of some sort. Whatever be the case, the consequence is they do not react kindly to states and people that deviate from their diktat.
India is a ‘strategic ally’ of the USA. Going by the West’s belief (as summarised by Durso), there remains the expectation of subservience from New Delhi. And post-liberalization of its economy, India has indeed exhibited a fair degree of compliance with the American edicts – going easy on Pakistan despite their continuous promotion of terrorism on Indian soil is a handy example.
As a result, today, we have different levels within different institutions (governmental, non-governmental, educational, or pertaining to media and entertainment) that exhibit a remarkable degree of alignment with the Western narrative while remaining far removed from their civilizational and cultural moorings. Yet strangely, there always remains some paranoia in the minds of Washington; and maybe stray episodes like the Modi-Jaishankar duo trying to secure India’s energy needs following the Ukraine episode, exacerbates that.
So when high profile socio-political faces or media ‘influencers’ from India visit the key power-centres of the West and openly decry Indian democracy and the present government, could it be that the West perhaps spot in them prospective candidate(s) with the right measure of subservience to be their representative – their candidate(s) for ascension when the time comes?
Why India? It is a complex task to cover it in a single essay. Just to understand the present context, let us just consider a few points:
The Iran-Saudi deal, encouraged by its initial success, is looking for newer areas to explore (details are available in different Middle Eastern dailies). Ukraine’s President Zelensky, after fighting a useless war with Russia for over a year, is now apparently seeking a meeting with Xi Jinping (the West suspects, he is looking for a Chinese intervention to end the war). France is trying to trade in Yuan (the recent protests in France could well be an orchestrated chaos to bring Macron back ‘in line’). The Taiwanese population is still equivocal about China; they are largely not bothered about a Chinese takeover.
The uncertainties are stacking up quite fast. An India that disregards the ‘Russia is the only enemy’ philosophy, and remains largely unaffected by the woke causes that are otherwise used to cascade colour revolutions, for now remains too strategic a geography situated beside China and on the Indian Ocean, to be overlooked. If there are no shoulders like Ukraine in case of a Western showdown against China, it would severely weaken their Indo-Pacific thrust.
So maybe the West thinks that the only way to keep India from slipping out is by keeping the present government walking the tightrope, and – I repeat ‘and’ – look for alternative faces.
[Arindam Mukherjee is a geopolitical analyst and the author of JourneyDog Tales, The Puppeteer, and A Matter of Greed.]
Disclaimer: Views expressed are the author’s own.
