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India looms large on the global scene where Asia regains its place
in world history that was lost to Europe from about the 18th century
when Europeans pioneered the scientific-industrial revolutions and
re-invented democracy in the making of the modern world.
As the world's largest democracy India has moved forward on a path of
democratic development which could be a model for other post-colonial
developing countries of Asia and Africa. India's democracy is a lesson
for countries frustrated with difficulties in making the transition
from pre-modern traditional politics to a rule-based representative and
constitutional order.
India's political achievement is significant as it has laid a
foundation for her economic growth in the years ahead. Indians in
sufficient numbers have acquired the fundamentals of modern science,
have contributed to its advancement, and even in greater numbers have
acquired the skills of modern technology and applying them positively
to meet India's needs.
In its immediate neighbourhood India strides as a regional giant with
an ability to project her military and naval power well beyond her
borders. Yet, more importantly, India is not a revisionist power
seeking to alter its boundaries at the expense of her neighbours, and
her wars have been waged reluctantly in defense of her interests and
unity.
India actively seeks peace as the cornerstone of her foreign and
domestic policies. Despite her border war with China, India's
political leaders have sought to engage with Beijing in the spirit of
peaceful co-existence that leaders of both countries strived for once
in the early years of their independence.
And while India has been victimized by terrorism, her leaders felled by
terrorist violence, her people burdened by the painful costs of
communal rage, religious-based conflicts and insurgencies arising from
politics of caste and class divisions, yet the majority of India's
ethno-linguistically diverse population has embraced her secular
identity and given democracy an Asian face. This is remarkable since
India could have splintered in many different ways; it is even more
remarkable that despite her innumerable contradictions, the
debilitating poverty of a large segment of her population and the
persistence of ancient manners of her people, India and Indians in ever
increasing numbers are at peace with the world, reconciled with
modernity, optimistic of the future and embracing of others in the
making of a composite culture for a country larger than Europe as a
continent and a population more than twice the number of that in North
America.
It is in India's democratic politics and her composite culture, not in
her military capabilities and nuclear arsenal, reside the essential
strength and vitality of modern India. Sixty years after independence
from British rule the world has begun to take notice of India in
keeping with her achievements and her even greater potential. It is
left to the imagination of others the place India will likely occupy in
the centenary year of her independence four decades into the future.
The interest of states, particularly of democratic states such as
Canada and India, suggests that Ottawa and New Delhi forge a
relationship fitting to the needs and dignity of both their people.
There was a time not so long ago - a fleeting moment perhaps in the
rapidly changing circumstances of global politics - Canadians fondly
remember as the "golden years" of her foreign policy. It was then when
Prime Minister Lester Pearson worked on the world stage his brand of
diplomacy that reached out to others in demonstrating the appeal of
multilateralism as a means to soften the hard edges of confrontational
international politics. Pearson found in India's first and longest
serving Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, a friend and partner, and
Canada and India as members of the British Commonwealth with common
practice of parliamentary democracy drew near in bonds of friendship
and shared values.
The years since Pearson-Nehru partnership Canada and India have
somewhat drifted apart. There have been recriminations and grievances
from both sides and both, in some degree, have not paid enough
attention to what drew them close to one another. But differences
between Ottawa and New Delhi are of less weight when the shared values
of democracy between Canada and India are so much more compelling,
especially in a world of nation-states where the instincts of Pearson
and Nehru remain alien. It is, therefore, of mutual interests for the
present generation of Canadians and Indians, and their respective
leaders, to strengthen their entente cordiale in a world where peaceful
coexistence still remains a goal to be sought rather than a wish
realized. |
ndia Vision : Dynamics of Development