On Tuesday, after the 2+2 dialogue with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, USA’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken lost his marbles. Akin to the gaffe of a few weeks back of Daleep Singh, Blinken preached India on the Humans rights abuse this time. The deluded Democrat diplomat remarked that Washington was monitoring the rise in Human rights abuse in India.
Blinken said, “We also share a commitment to our democratic values, such as protecting human rights. We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values, and to that end, we’re monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials.”
Blinken’s statement reek of a condescending tone that has become usually associated with Democrat regimes in the White House. Washington is still miffed that in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, New Delhi did not take its side and severed ties with Russia.
Washington is trying to exert pressure on India through such statements’
India has been steadfast that it is against the war but it cannot ask one of its natural allies to drop the towel. Moreover, India has been purchasing the oil and setting up an alternate payment mechanism that undermines the US dollar.
Despite doing all this, the US cannot sanction India and thus by releasing such passive-aggressive statements, it is trying to rile up the Modi government and exhort it to toe the Western nations’ line.
While the carrot and stick strategy may work well with other US allies such as Japan and Australia — it simply does not work with India. For one, Washington and New Delhi are using each other for their own interests. Moreover, India still maintains a tradition of strategic autonomy.
New Delhi didn’t release a statement outrightly to condemn Blinken but expect one in the coming hours. EAM under S Jaishankar has been highly effective in recent days in cutting the liberal western media as well as politicians to size with his simple yet deadly one-liners.
America is trying to get India to its side but is behaving like a jilted lover
Be it abstaining from UNSC resolution, or oil deal with Russia, the West has never left a stone unturned to threaten and humiliate India, the Daleep Singh case being a recent example.
As reported by TFI, in the backdrop of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict where the US is attempting to alienate the Kremlin, Biden sent his lieutenant, Deputy NSA for International Economics Daleep Singh to New Delhi to set the stage right.
However, instead of using his diplomatic acumen to persuade India to not buy oil from Russia and set up an alternative payment mechanism, Daleep Singh threatened New Delhi with ‘consequences’, only to be shushed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Disguised as a friend, Daleep Singh, speaking for his American masters mansplained India about the mechanism of sanctions. He said, “I come here in a spirit of friendship to explain the mechanisms of our sanctions, the importance of joining us, to express a shared resolve and to advance shared interests. And yes, there are consequences to countries that actively attempt to circumvent or backfill the sanctions.”
Moreover, terming Russia as China’s Junior partner, Daleep Singh claimed that Moscow would not come to India’s rescue if China was to continue its misadventures along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
He said, “Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China. And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India, I don’t think anyone would believe that if China once again breached the Line of Actual Control, that Russia will come running to India’s defence,”
Read More: Jaishankar makes it clear to US, “You’re barking up the wrong tree”
Jaishankar exposes the West
While Daleep Singh was making his harakiri statements, S Jaishankar in an unscripted sharp exchange with visiting British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss answered the US and UK simultaneously for their hypocrisy in targeting India, despite the entire EU and western world buying oil from Russia.
Jaishankar said that talk of sanctions “looked like a campaign” and it was Europe that was buying more oil from Russia than before the war, “It is interesting because we have seen for some time what looks almost like a campaign (against us) on this issue. When the oil prices go up, I think it is natural for the countries to go out into the market and look for what are good deals for their people.”
Europe bought 15% more oil & gas from Russia than it did a month before. Most of the major buyers of oil & gas from Russia are in Europe. We get the bulk of our energy supplies from Middle East, about 7.5%-8% from US, maybe less than a per cent from Russia: EAM Dr S Jaishankar pic.twitter.com/SegTH0fThx
— ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2022
However, the mic drop moment came when Jaishankar said, “I am pretty sure if we wait two or three months and actually look at who are the big buyers of Russian oil and gas, I suspect the list would not be too different from what it used to be and I suspect we won’t be in the top 10 on that list.
India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is crystal clear in its foreign policy. It will not be swayed by Washington’s mumble-jumble of a foreign policy where sanctions are placed on anyone that dares goes against the conventional set by it. Russia is a friend and whatever arm-twisting tactics the White House employs through its pawns, New Delhi does not give two hoots.