In service of the imperialist drive of the Indian big bourgeoisie

It is widely recognized that the foreign policy of the Indian state has undergone some significant changes in the last few years. Most notable among these changes is the “strategic alliance” with US imperialism. This manifests itself in various forms such as extensive military and nuclear cooperation, and also political cooperation as, for instance, when India voted along with the US to condemn Iran's nuclear policy. Other facets of this “new” foreign policy include the “Look East” policy which focuses on East and particularly South East Asia, participation in new global and regional groupings, a certain rapprochement with China, some new moves towards Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries in the neighbourhood and determined efforts to be recognized as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The nuclear policy (including the Pokhran test under the NDA government), the economic and trade policies, and the energy policy are also closely linked with the foreign policy of the Indian state. What is one to make of these changes? Some say that this marks a “realistic” turn in India's foreign policy, away from the “moralistic” or “idealistic” foreign policy of the time of Jawaharlal Nehru. Others hail this as showing that India has finally “arrived” on the world stage, that it is now one of the major players in the global arena. According to this standpoint, all Indians should be proud that the US, the biggest superpower of our times, is seeking to build a “strategic partnership” with India. There are also those who are worried by the turn of events, particularly the alliance with US imperialism. Some of them say that the Indian government is becoming subservient to US imperialism ever since it signed the defence and nuclear cooperation agreements with the US in 2005, and that the issue now is “fight to defend India's independent foreign policy” — in other words, take it back to what it was before the recent tie-up with the US.

The working class looks at the issue of foreign policy from the standpoint of whose interests, the interests of which class or classes, it serves. Does it ensure the peace and wellbeing of the toiling people of India in the fundamental and long-term sense? Is it in support of lasting peace and good relations among the peoples of the world, and of the independence and sovereignty of all nations and peoples? Judged from this standpoint, the present day foreign policy of the Indian state, including the changes in recent times, is very much against the interests of the working class and toiling people of our country, and against the interests of peace and the freedom of peoples. It represents the ruthless drive of the ruling big bourgeoisie to turn India into a first-rate imperialist power through increasing militarisation, closer integration with the world imperialist economy, and alignment with the aggressive and hegemonistic global strategy of US imperialism.

The pro-imperialist foreign policy of the Indian state after 1947

The big bourgeoisie that took power from the British colonial rulers in 1947 from the very beginning considered itself the dominant power of the region and heir to the legacy of the British empire. Let alone breaking links with British imperialism, it established strong relations with all other imperialist powers as well, particularly US imperialism. After the death of Stalin, when the Soviet Union under Khrushchev began to woo the Indian state in its rivalry with US imperialism, the Indian big bourgeoisie developed close ties with the Soviet social-imperialists also. It used its strategic position at a nodal point of contention between the two imperialist super powers, to play one against the other and strike the best deals with both, to advance its own interests. As a big country, newly independent, it played the role of the Trojan Horse amongst the newly liberated countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, to prevent these peoples from taking the path of making a clean break with the imperialist system.

From all these considerations developed the foreign policy of the Indian state during the Nehru and Indira Gandhi eras. The ruling bourgeoisie used its “aid”, trade and investment ties with both the imperialist camps to build up its military and industrial capacity. At the same time it preached “non-alignment” as a “third way” between the US led bloc and Soviet led bloc to be followed by all former colonial and dependent countries. It participated in the designs of both the US and the Soviet Union to isolate and threaten the People's Republic of China, leading to the 1962 war. And it pursued a bullying policy towards the other countries of the neighbourhood, including relentless hostility towards Pakistan. Far from being an “idealistic” or “principled” foreign policy, this was a highly pragmatic, unprincipled policy calculated to build up the power of the Indian big bourgeoisie through engagement with all the imperialist powers, forged at the expense of the aspirations of the Indian people who had fought for liberation from all forms of imperialist pressure and domination.

The turn after the end of the Cold War

By the middle and late 1980s, the Indian big bourgeoisie had fattened itself through decades of state intervention in its interests (which was touted as “Nehruvian socialism”) and a degree of protectionism (which was touted as “self-reliance”). It needed foreign capital and technology for rapid growth in order to make itself competitive with the bourgeoisie of advanced capitalist countries. It needed to integrate India even more closely with the capitalist imperialist world. The modernization program under Rajiv Gandhi and the program of privatisation and liberalisation, of the Narasimha Rao government were steps in this direction.. It is in these times that the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended.

In the changed and fluid world scenario following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ruling big bourgeoisie, after an initial period of readjustment, quickly signaled its intentions. On the one hand, it has sought new markets, new sources of energy and new fields for investment, and a diversification of its trade ties, particularly with the booming economies of the countries of East and South East Asia, and with Central Asia and West Asia. It has sought to become a partner of ASEAN, it has boosted its economic ties with the rapidly growing Chinese economy, and has actively sought to be involved in energy exploration in the neighbourhood, in Central and West Asia, Africa and other regions.

On the other hand, by going ahead with a nuclear test in 1996, building up its conventional military capacity such as its “blue water” navy, and actively seeking to be recognised as a big power, both in the UN and in other groupings such as the G-20, Russia-China-India Trilateral, IBSA, etc., it has showed that it is willing to go to great lengths to fulfill its imperialist ambitions. Without giving up its pretensions of being part of the large “non-aligned” grouping of poor and developing countries, it has clearly showed that its sights are set elsewhere, at the “high table” along with the big powers of the world.

The “strategic alliance” with US imperialism

The imperialist strategy of the big bourgeoisie has received a boost from the strategy of US imperialism in the post-Cold War world At the present time, the US is paying great attention to Asia. This is where it sees the booming new markets for its goods and fields for investment, as well as the potential sources of energy needed to fuel its economy, and this is also where it sees its possible competitor in the long term in the form of an increasingly powerful China. That US imperialism is determined to establish and extend its unquestioned dictate over Asia can be clearly seen in the establishment of its military stranglehold over Afghanistan and Iraq, its continuous threats and pressure against Iran, its attempts to undermine Russian influence over Central Asia, its bullying of North Korea, and its encouragement to Japan to pursue a more militaristic policy.

In this strategy to expand its control over Asia and contain China, US imperialism has understood that an Indian state which is thirsting to strengthen itself and achieve big power status can be a useful ally. The ruling bourgeoisie here too sees a tie-up with the US, the sole superpower in today's world, as the needed boost to realise its dreams. These dreams have nothing to do with the interests of our people, with ensuring any kind of security for our people from the threat of war or with ensuring prosperity for the masses of toiling people. These are the dreams of a particular class, a very small upper segment of the society, that identifies its own profits and its own glory with the well-being of India, no matter what the costs.

The trend towards increasing closeness between US imperialism and the Indian state, which became apparent under the NDA government here and the Clinton administration in the US, has taken several steps forward under the UPA government and the Bush administration. These include giving the US and its agencies control over the nuclear policy and establishment of India in return for access to some nuclear technology and supplies and for “recognition” as a nuclear power. At a time when the US has become hated and reviled all over the world for its crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places, the Indian state is expanding its military cooperation with the US. This includes opening its military facilities and giving logistical support to the US war machine, engaging in joint military exercises, concluding huge arms purchase agreements, exchanging military intelligence, “escorting” US warships in the Indian Ocean, and so on. When the US is increasingly isolated in international forums, with even some of its allies refusing to go along with it on various issues, the Indian state has accommodated its stands to suit the US on several issues. For example, it reversed its stand on the issue of Iran's sovereign right to have its own nuclear policy, and has voted with the US to condemn Iran. It can thus be seen that the “strategic partnership” with the US comes at a heavy price which the Indian big bourgeoisie is willing to pay precisely because, in pursuit of its own interests, it cares nothing for the self-respect and sovereignty of the Indian people and of other countries and peoples.

Active and uncompromising opposition to the imperialist drive of the Indian big bourgeoisie is the need of the hour!

The Indian working class and people have paid a high price in the past because of those rajas and nawabs who sold out their interests to foreign powers because of their own greed and short-sightedness. The class that rules India today is no different in this respect. For the sake of its profits and ambitions, it is willing to bleed our country and people white, and expose them to the dangers of war and loss of sovereignty. It sometimes blows hot or cold against this or that imperialist, it talks about defending the interests of the nation, but the policy it pursues is at all times an imperialist policy that endangers our people and others.

The need of the hour is for the people to come out in active opposition to the “strategic alliance” with US imperialism and other maneuvers of the Indian state that assist imperialist aggression and war, that seek to strengthen the state militarily at the expense of our people, and that expose our people to greater danger of war and hostilities. Above all, the attempts of the big bourgeoisie to pass off these measures as being for the greater good or glory of India and the Indian people must be unreservedly denounced as a sham.