#166 Putin' Vodka In Bihar

India Policy Watch #1: Love For Putin<br/><br/>Insights on burning policy issues in India<br/><br/>- RSJ<br/><br/>You must have noticed a distinct anti-west, pro-Putin tone in the media outlets that toe the government&#8217;s line in India. The intellectual right has been busy with columns equivocating on who has to shoulder the blame for the war. What could be the reasons for this?&#160;<br/><br/>There&#8217;s of course the strategic autonomy argument. We are dependent on Russia for our defence and oil requirements. It has been a reliable friend of ours in the past. And we cannot trust the US anyway. There&#8217;s also the added hypocrisy of western Europe which continues to trade gas with Russia while lecturing us on our purchase of oil. Everyone is looking out for their interests and so should we. It is best to keep equidistant from any particular formation and act as a &#8216;swing power&#8217;. Pranay has written in the past few editions on why strategic autonomy as a policy isn&#8217;t suited for the likely emerging world order. But that aside, you can somewhat understand the anti-west stance if its origins lie in the traditional suspicion of the west and reflexive desire to be non-aligned in the policy circle in India.&#160;<br/><br/>But there&#8217;s more here. The anti-west stance is also about fighting the favourite imaginary global nexus of liberals and wokes. So, you will notice almost every television debate on Ukraine will devolve into some kind of liberal and Biden bashing. If you are so concerned about Ukraine, why don&#8217;t you put your troops on the ground instead of hectoring India - is the usual line taken by anchors. Implicit in it is some kind of &#8216;Putin envy&#8217; that I have noticed among the right-wing intellectuals in India. The idea that a strong man like Putin has revived national pride among Russians and brought it back into the superpower league from where it was languishing in the aftermath of the Soviet meltdown. This is obviously rubbish if you bother to look at the data.