Because this goes diametrically against the hard-earned image of India as a growing big power. There appears to be an orchestrated attempt to drag and push India into the vague category of ‘Middle Powers’ in the global power pecking order, unsurprisingly, much to the surprise and shock of the country’s 1.4 billion women, men, and children.
A section of deliberations at the two major international conferences, including the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, in the heart of New Delhi this month, may have left many a bit convinced that India was just a ‘Middle Power’ like Germany, or Australia, or Canada, and not a superpower in the making, thanks to some of the high-profile foreign speakers present there. However, addressing the Forum, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, in his own inimitable style, tried to nullify all such efforts by insisting: ‘India is a power in the middle’ and not a ‘middle power’. But we need to be more categorical, more forceful, and, if required, louder in stating that India is a big power in the making and nothing less. Sometimes, the world listens only when you speak a bit bluntly. Countries like China and Pakistan have never been comfortable with the rise and growing recognition of India as a big global power in the making. Some countries in the West, too, appear to be keen to label India just as a ‘Middle Power’ rather than acknowledging the country’s rise as a big power on all key parameters, including economic and defence. But there is no point blaming anybody – that is how the world is! There is no point being sentimental about such issues in internal affairs. The world – eventually, if not immediately – will think of us what we think of us. Hence, it is important that we are clear and consistent in positioning India as a rising big power everywhere, both as a people and as a government. China is nowhere equal to the United States in most parameters. Yet, President Donald Trump has granted Beijing the status of an equal, or G2, in his desperate efforts to rebuild bilateral relations, lower the temperature on the issues of the South China Sea and Taiwan, and wean China away from Russia. China is, predictably, also happily playing along, talking more like a global superpower than what it is – a regional Asian power.
