Written by Adi Satsangi
Joe Biden just reversed the political & diplomatic ties between India and the US to a new low. His State Department had played a game with India when they refused to provide India with the essential non-medicinal ingredients for the COVID-19 vaccine. Following the US, Germany’s Angela Merkel also acted foolishly, driven by her Hindu phobic advisors. What Biden forgot was that most vaccine ingredients sourced in the USA to make the finished Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are sourced from India. Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had to remind his American counterpart that the American unfriendly action against India in this desperate pandemic time speaks of the opportunism displayed by American leadership. It also appears that Joe Biden was reminded of the proactive Indian help during the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA. American actions led by Joe Biden puts the entire American outreach to India over the last five administrations to naught. With a single move, the American State Department lost an ally in India. Quad as it says will now just be on paper because it has just lost its biggest ally in that region. Was it a Russian ploy or a Chinese ploy? Only time can tell.
For China, their biggest nemesis is India both militarily as well as the size of the economy. The two Asian giants – India and China are competing for natural resources, Military control as well as global influence. Joe Biden was appearing to please the Chinese to get them off the hook with two cleverly orchestrated moves – One, sending an American warship into Indian Economic Zone and the second, stopping American components from administering COVID-19 vaccines to Indians. In both cases, the Joe Biden administration showed a lack of strategic insight into International relations. The arrogance displayed in the first case by the Biden Administration led to the demise of Quad which is vital for American security interests in the Indian Ocean Region. Indian Navy, the fifth largest navy in the world provides support to American Naval ships in that part of the world. Sometimes, the Indian Navy escorts American ships also in cases of conflicts like they did in the Iraq, Afghanistan wars. With the blatant infringement of Indian sovereignty in Indian territorial waters, the Biden Administration has directly impacted the security of American forces in the Indian Ocean. Russia and China immediately responded by telling the world that Americans cannot be trusted. In the second case, the public perception of Indians is again that the US cannot be a trusted ally. There will be a continued public debate in India now to not depend on America especially in the hour of need. Today the USA needs India more than any other ally in Asia.
The continued interference of the US State Department under the Biden Administration led by USCIRF in the internal affairs of India under the pretext of International Religious freedom is another pain point in Indo-US relations.
The Biden Administration has failed to check attacks against the Hindu faith of millions of practitioners in the USA through State-sponsored universities. There have been accusations against the Biden Administration of turning a blind eye to the concerns of mostly Hindu Indian Americans and also the plight of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The American USCIRF is itself a biased body against all non-Abrahamic faiths. The USAID that controls USCIRF has often been accused of working against all non-Abrahamic faiths. Does the USA have any right to preach to other countries when they themselves are accused of partiality? I won’t be surprised if India in the future produces a report on worsening race relations within the USA. The divide and rule policy of the Biden Administration reeks of the colonial British mindset of putting one community against another.
It is important to note that losing an important ally like India puts thousands of American jobs at risk. The religious hatred being spread in the name of liberalism & progressivism will destroy the federal secular character of the USA which in turn will displace the USA from being the most innovative economy on the planet.
For the Biden Administration, it is important to assuage the fears of the largest democracy on the planet through meaningful steps such as reigning in control of the State Department, ruling out sanctions against India, and stopping religious hatred against non-white Hindus spread through state agencies such as USCIRF. Without corrective steps, Biden is actually laying the foundation of the decline of the democratic world. It will only make China and its allies happy.
– Adi Satsangi is a Freelance author and author of seven acclaimed books on ancient Hindu History. His articles are regularly published in leading International publications
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