In light of a recent report that credits outreach by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among other global leaders, to Russian President Vladamir Putin in helping to prevent a “potential nuclear attack” on Ukraine, two US Congressmen opine that India, known for Mahatma Gandhi and his ideology of nonviolence, is growing into a power which will be looked at for resolving global conflicts.
Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s active role on the global stage and India’s rapid economic growth, US Representative Congressman Rich McCormick envisioned India as a key player in conflict resolution, competing with major economies like China and the United States.
“I think India is just getting started in this. PM Modi is engaged internationally. He has a rapidly growing economy. One of the fastest in the world, is soon to be the third largest GDP in the world. It is going to compete with China and eventually the United States, depending on what the United States does in their economy. The more powerful you get, the more people pay attention to you,” he told ANI.
McCormick also emphasised India’s significant leverage as Russia’s largest energy consumer and stressed the importance of ensuring that diplomatic efforts align with the best interests of all parties involved.
“India is their (Russia’s) largest energy consumer, so it gives them incredible leverage,” Congressman McCormick said.
The US Congressman also underscored the importance of ensuring everyone’s best interests are considered and leveraging diplomatic power effectively. “We just need to make sure that everybody’s best interests are at hand and that we’re doing it in the right way. Leverage only applies if you’re willing to use it,” he added.
Addressing the gravity of the situation, McCormick warned against succumbing to idle threats and stated the need to avoid self-assured mutual destruction. “Now, Putin’s leveraging the fact that he has nuclear arms, but we’ve seen this used by nefarious actors in North Korea. Think that it’s really important as we go forward that we don’t succumb to just idle threats. And maybe this is not an idle threat. If it’s not an idle threat, we have a bigger problem. We have to, as a world, realize that self-assured mutual destruction is not the way to go going forward,” the US Congressman said.
Another US Congressman, Raja Krishnamoorthi, echoed thesentiment, expressing confidence in India’s ability to broker peace.
“Yes, definitely. And I hope that India continues to play its role,” Krishnamoorthi affirms. Drawing inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, he highlighted the need for peaceful conflict resolution, irrespective of the parties involved.
“India is known for Mahatma Gandhi, and Mahatma Gandhi believed in non-violence,” Krishnamoorthi said, adding, “We can’t settle scores through violence. It has to be done peacefully and at the bargaining table, regardless of who you are, whether you’re the Chinese Communist Party, whether you’re Russia, or whether you’re any other actor.”
A recent CNN report said that outreach from PM Modi and other countries played an important role in averting a ‘potential’ nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv, in what would have been the first nuclear attack since the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years before. The report also claimed that as the Russia-Ukraine war raged in 2022, the United States started “preparing rigorously” for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv.
The Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, CNN cited two officials. Amid the fears, the US sought to enlist the help of non-allies including India, to discourage Russia from such an attack, as reported by the US media outlet.
“One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing,” the senior administration official said.
US officials say that outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped avert a crisis. “I think we believe showing the international community the concern about this, particularly the concern from key countries for Russia and the Global South, was also a helpful, persuasive factor and showed them what the cost of all this could be,” CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying.
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has always condemned civilian killings and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
In a major statement, PM Modi told President Putin that “this is not the era of war” on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan last year. The statement even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.