Consider this – the Ukraine-Russia war has been going on for over four years now, but is nowhere near coming to an end. There is no exact figure available but estimates range from 100,000 to 140,000 Ukrainians and around 325,000 Russians killed. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the war, remains in power and is under no visible pressure from his nation’s political system to end the conflict. The cost of the war to Ukraine and Russia, as well as the rest of the world, has been incalculable.
On the other hand, an equally mindless war triggered by US President Donald Trump’s irrational politics was in its twelfth day and already facing strong opposition from the people and the political system. Trump is under tremendous pressure to call off ‘Epic Fury’ as soon as possible. While it can be claimed that the US opposition has been quite ineffective in the first year of Trump’s second term, but the prospect of defeat in coming mid-term elections has forced Republicans to take into consideration public opinion and tone down the rhetoric. If people end up voting according to the anti-war sentiment, Trump will have to end his war on Iran to ensure there is not further damage to his party’s prospects.
This is the difference between a democracy and an autocracy. Even if a leader has a support base that is committed to a certain ideology, the safeguards in the system ensure, even if gradually, that there is no violation of the basic constitutional principles. This is more so in India because its constitution is of more recent origin as compared to that of the US. For all the talk about PM Modi’s ‘dictatorial’ leadership, he has had to pull back from many political initiatives and reforms because of even localised opposition.
Be it Vladimir Putin or the theocratic regime in Iran, there is little that can be expected regarding ‘change from within’. Trump quickly realised the hollowness of his call at the start of the war for the Iranian public to overthrow the regime. As such, when it comes to dealing with undemocratic political systems, the rules of engagement have to be different. It cannot be taken for granted that those in power actually represent the people. Hence the bifurcated kind of approach that India has been adopting in dealing with Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, et al. Therefore, it is important for those who criticise India’s foreign policy nuances to understand this crucial reality – different strokes for different folks!
