A parade of pride

On every Republic Day, when expertly choreographed T-90 main battle tanks, superbly marching infantry, cultural floats and frolicking school children pass in review before the presidential saluting base on Rajpath, even the most cynical citizen watching on television screen or from the spectator stands bask in the power of the state, and acknowledge, as the Ashok Chakra is given, posthumously, the price that must be paid for it by the bravest of the brave.

The parade reassures the nation that its foundations laid over 65 years since Independence have withstood stresses. India is a nation that has been living close to the edge ever since its inception, but has avoided going over the cliff. Few other countries as diverse, with a people as chaotically argumentative and uber-democratic and facing as many economic, political and societal problems, could have survived without major structural damage.

But India has managed to negotiate the treacherous quicksand of formative nationhood, often to the unceasing wonder of its own citizens. The precise mathematical formulae or magic equations which may have brought this phenomenon to pass still remains the stuff of intense debates. Abroad, India is still perceived in its traditional image — the home of soft spiritualism and non-violence rather than a nuclear weapon state.

The diamond-hard realpolitik preached by Chanakya centuries ago is seen in the determination of an independent republic to defend its freedom. Had he been around, that ancient philosopher “national security adviser” to Chandragupta Maurya — would have been happy that his doctrines have found their fullest expression and seen the nation through multiple crises Hyderabad, Kashmir and a series of Sino-Indian and Indo-Pak conflicts, culminating in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, which split India’s arch-antagonist into two.

The impact of the Bangladesh War was further heightened and reinforced with the explosion of India’s first nuclear device when the Buddha smiled in Rajasthan’s Pokhran in 1974.
Not often do the constitutional heads of the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracies meet as they did in New Delhi this January.

Visits by foreign heads of states and PMs are planned carefully and stage managed for maximum effect. Let there be no doubt that the presence of President Obama of the United States at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi was a very significant diplomatic coup indeed.

The relationship between Mr Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a born-again one, created by dispassionate pragmatism in both countries to reshape the situation after Narendra bhai, much reviled and despised by India’s Oxbridge fashionistas, swept the polls in the 2014 elections. Earlier, fashionistas’ propaganda had influenced the United States to declare the one-time tea seller as persona non grata, for his alleged culpability in the Gujarat riots of 2002, an allegation he has always strongly and vehemently denied. But many of them still haven’t got over it.

His origins as a self-admitted Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak bear uncanny resemblance to that of his visitor, a church-based community organiser, and that’s something that may, perhaps, have contributed to the surprising personal chemistry between them. For his part, Mr Barack Obama came with a clear awareness of the tinderbox regional situation in South Asia, chiefly centred around Afghanistan and the non-state players homegrown and foreign who are involved in some way or the other.

Some are unadulteratedly malevolent, like Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence and their radical surrogates, the Haqqani or Dawood networks. Others are relatively benign, like India, and have engaged constructively in the rebuilding of Afgha-nistan. The internal situation in Afghanistan is delicately balanced and Mr Obama, in addition to the stated purpose of his visit, would definitely have used this occasion for first-hand discussion about the developing ground situation there, even as the drawdown of the American military and transfer of responsibilities to the Afghan National Army (ANA) gets under way.

The Republic Day parade must have contributed to boosting American confidence regarding the military component of any partnership contemplated with India, which appeared to be very much on the cards. However, discerning Indian viewers would have been disappointed at the absence of the Arjun Main Battle Tank, and the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), both poised to enter into squadron service in the Army and the Air Force respectively. Both would have emphasised the catchphrase “Make in India”.

It would be a good idea to display these indigenously manufactured symbols of military power (and additional ones as they are produced) both to the people of India, as also foreign visitors, on every such ceremonial occasion. On the level of high diplomacy and grand strategy between the two countries, Mr Obama’s visit was nothing more than a voyage of exploration and, perhaps, discovery, as the two leaders sized each other up. Given that India cannot promise boots on the ground in Afghanistan, there is little that America can offer beyond advice and counselling.

The N-deal was, well, a done deal. Beyond that we might have an Indian submarine in international waters in the South/East China Seas, or get American technical assistance in developing the strategic network of border roads in Arunachal Pradesh. At the most.

The writer is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former member of Parliament