BY DR. A. ADITYANJEE
Modern Indian nation state has a long history that sometimes conveniently gets forgotten. India did not arise or start
or was created in 1947 when transfer of power from the colonial British government took place. India is an historic
civilizational state with thousands of years of history, culture, civilization and philosophy. No one can deny the
unique cultural history of Indian nationhood from the ancient times as there are enough pieces of evidence from
various streams, including archaeological, historical, literary, cultural, and geo-political. Our ancient Indian
civilization proudly believed in the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam bringing a universalist dimension to
humanity and statecraft. Such philosophical notions are not found in any other civilizational nation states.
Indian kings were always governed by a code of conduct for the ruler called Raj Dharma that took care of the
human rights of the subjects. Such advanced cognitive and humanistic notions from ancient times mark India apart
from other nation states! Marxist historians and the Western academics for narrow purposes have adroitly tried to
deny the ancient nationhood of India.
During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, the boundaries of Indian nation included the modern-day transient
states of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The influence of Indic civilization was so widespread to the west that the
ancient Kingdom of Mittani in the West Asia had Indo-Aryan rulers with Sanskrit based names. In the East, Indic
influences were present all over the Southeast Asia up to the Philippines. On the North, Indic culture, artifacts and
influences are still seen in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, China and up to Korea, Japan and Siberia.
That was the unique history of Indian nation and Indic civilization when some of the modern day hyperpowers
were not even born! Mother India has stood tall as a civilization for thousands of years despite barbaric invasions
and onslaughts from marauding armies. The moderating and civilizing influence by India on the world in the
ancient and medieval times can not be denied despite intellectual gymnastics by colonialists and their minions.
Geo-Political History of India since 1947:
As an emerging democracy post-colonially, India for various reasons tried to not get involved in military blocks.
India has maintained her independent posture in international relations. Doctrine of Non-Alignment was enunciated
and adhered to since 1955 onwards. India's strategic choices since 1947 were very limited because of the hostile
attitudes of the erstwhile colonial power UK (Britain) and the newly emergent super-power of USA. Both found a
convenient ally in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and armed it to the teeth over many decades against India.
Over the years, non-alignment doctrine got revised into the Doctrine of Genuine Non-Alignment followed by the
Doctrine of Polyvalent Alignment. India is a founder member of the UN. India is also the largest contributor to the
UN peace keeping forces but does not find a place in UNSC P5. Indian Government has taken a principled stand
that India should not be part of any international treaty, convention, covenants, charter or agreement that tends to
jeopardize her national interests.
India is the only country in the entire world where Jews were never persecuted. India gave shelter to Persians
(Parsees) fleeing medieval Iran from the religious persecution and murderous onslaught of Islamic invaders. India,
despite her history of giving shelter to various refugees for humanitarian reasons, has refused to be a signatory to
the 1954 UN Convention provides the definition of a “stateless person” and the foundation of the international legal
framework to address statelessness. Similarly, India has not signed or ratified the 1961 UN Convention, the
international instrument that sets rules for the conferral and non-withdrawal of citizenship to prevent
statelessness. While India has signed various international human rights covenants, charters and treaties, India
has scrupulously avoided getting trapped in the Western imperialist and Woke rhetoric that is inimical to India's
national interests. India as a member of the UN is a party to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
However, India is neither a state party nor a signatory to the International Criminal Court because it impinges on
India's strategic autonomy. India can not allow persecution and prosecution of her leaders and officials by the ICC
when Indian judiciary is vibrant and over-reaching in its influence.
Though India was a signatory of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and ratified it the same year; India refused
to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 owing to its discriminatory standards. Similarly, India refused
to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996 for the same reasons. India is a responsible nuclear weapons
state that is not part of the Western orchestrated nuclear regimes that impinge on India's strategic autonomy. India
has never been accused of horizontal nuclear proliferations because of strong internal measures and controls.
Similarly, India is not a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the
Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, that aims at eliminating anti-personnel
landmines around the world (International Landmines Treaty). India did not sign the International Arms
Trade treaty of 2013 because of strategic and security reasons despite pressure from the US. India, which had
worked hard during the negotiations, had expressed its deep concerns on the final draft. At the commencement of
this Conference India had made clear that the ATT should make a real impact on illicit trafficking in conventional
arms and their illicit use especially by terrorists and other unauthorized and unlawful non-state actors. The
provisions in the final draft on terrorism and non-state actors were weak and diffused and found no mention in the
specific prohibitions of the Treaty. While India has negotiated in good faith and in an open and transparent manner
with respect to our essential interests, the final draft had the tell-tale marks of behind- the-scenes carve outs of
exclusive interests of a select few countries, such as egregiously excluding non-state actors or arms transfers as
gifts or loans, thus seriously diminishing the value of a multilateral Treaty negotiated in the UN. India had stressed
consistently that the treaty should ensure a balance of obligations between exporting and importing states. India
emphasized that the treaty could be used as an instrument in the hands of exporting states to take unilateral force
majeure measures against importing states parties without consequences.
Sanction Regime Galore:
During this post-1947 era, the imperial West has persistently continued to indulge in India-bashing and
attempted to diminish her role by a regime of multi-layered sanctions. Though most of the sanctions were triggered
by the 1974 Pokhran-I “Smiling Buddha” Nuclear explosion, the refusal to sign the 1968 NPT had already resulted
in a regime of tough dual use export controls and sanctions on India. There were sanctions on India's space
program and missiles development program. India could not buy jet engines for her prototype fighter aircraft
because of these multilateral sanctions. Despite all these sanctions, targeted killings of Indian nuclear scientists,
contrived entrapment of Indian Space scientists into legal blackhole, India has survived. Regimes of sanctions
were calibrated and finetuned multilaterally to bend Mother India.
(To be continued…)
