IndiaScope: A New Alignment in India-U.S. Relations?
For much of India’s post-independence era, relations with the United States were fraught. As the post-war world divided into two halves—U.S. bloc and Soviet bloc—India became a champion of nonalignment. However, in reality, India’s relationship with the Soviets was close; the same could not be said of its relations with America.
Although Jawaharlal Nehru was warmly received by two U.S. presidents, by the 1970s, the Indira Gandhi- Nixon relationship was cold and hostile, mirroring that between the two countries. In addition, the Indian foreign policy bureaucracy, and indeed many Indians, couldn’t get past their aversion to what they saw as American imperialism. But India was willing to overlook the Soviet Union’s faults, including its repression of human rights, in return for an enduring friendship. Growing up during the Cold War years, I remember that the discussions always seemed to turn on the question of respect; Indians simply felt respected—as a country, a culture, a fabled past history—by the Soviets, but not by the Americans.
As the Cold War era ended, the question of why the world’s two largest democracies couldn’t draw closer— despite being compatible on issues of rights and freedoms—became more pressing. A case was made for closer ties based on a more natural friendship. The progress made when Bush Sr. was in office accelerated during the Clinton years and solidified with the Obama and Trump administrations.
Fast-forward to the Modi era: India’s robust economic growth started to fulfill its decades-long promise, Indians showed up at the helm of every great global scientific and economic endeavor, Indian Americans began to have clout in American politics, and Americans started to notice. What PM Modi’s visit is underlining is all of these transformations. At long last, America is according India the respect that India has felt it deserved all along.
Because U.S. foreign policy is transactional and self-interested, some of this new-found love for India can surely also be attributed to the ongoing Ukraine war. India is courted as a vital Asian ally in the U.S./ NATO effort to destabilize Russia and help Ukraine win. Thus far, India’s foreign policy bureaucracy has carefully maintained the key ethos of nonalignment, stressing repeatedly that what India wants is an end to the destruction wrought by the war and to the countries who have suffered collateral damage—the world’s poorest countries. India remains a vocal champion—as reiterated during the G20 meetings and in Washington by Modi—of the global south and its needs.
What the U.S. wants, however, is for India to step off the fence and become a more committed ally in America’s global endeavors, starting with Ukraine. It has showered India with presents—dazzling trade, semi-conductor, defense, and space exploration deals. Then there was Modi’s formal state visit—with all the pomp and circumstance generally reserved for America’s closest allies—which included an address to Congress, a joint press conference, and a private dinner with the Bidens followed by a magnificent state dinner that showcased a glittering Indian diaspora.
Behind the scenes, members of Congress petitioned Biden to press Modi on India’s human rights failures. A few chose not to attend the address to Congress. Questions were raised directly with the prime minister and he had to defend present-day India’s pluralism and embrace of all regardless of creed or caste. And there were hecklers at many events, underlining that not everyone was on board with the courtship.
As both sides laud a new and special friendship that emphasizes shared democratic ideals, as both leaders call the friendship important to the world, as the U.S. pulls out all the stops, and as China has become a thorn in both sides, it does feel that we have somehow entered a new phase that might pull India away from its traditional stance of nonalignment. But if politics is fickle and unpredictable, foreign policy is even more so—after all, while Modi is feted today, he was banned from entry nine years ago. In the world theater, nothing can be taken for granted.
Tinaz Pavri is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Spelman College, Atlanta. A recipient of the Donald Wells Award from the Georgia Political Science Association, she’s the author of the memoir Bombay in the Age of Disco: City, Community, Life.
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