India & USA: A new bipolar world order
President of the USA Donald Trump is visiting India today and there is penetrable excitement in the air. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump understand that there are many compelling reasons for them to work together, to conceive and construct a new world order.
India and the USA are not formal allies, and India still continues its age-old policy of non-alignment. I strongly feel, the time has come for India to wrap up the old policy of non-alignment and move towards a timely relevant, new foreign policy doctrine to become mutual allies.
Indian can propose this initiative of a paradigm shift in its USA policy with clear buy-ins, riders and conditions to President Trump. It will be a new marriage of the equals.
In the age and time we live in, it is not the geopolitical factors which should dictate a nation's foreign policy; this new reality applies to both the USA and India. In fact, the foreign policy doctrine of USA & India should be based on political stability, governance promise, prospective economic exchange, financial synergies, demographic composition strengths, and knowledge assets.
It is no rocket science to understand that India tops the list of modern asset valuation for any economically vibrant nation in the world on above criteria. India has time tested functional democracy, independent institutional framework, stable elected governments with peaceful power transition, constitutional checks and balances, free press, credible judiciary and very active civic expression.
Demographically, there is no other nation in the world which can compete with an unprecedented combination of 130 billion population, world's largest youth composition, high-consumption oriented massive middle class, and an economy driven by knowledge services and agriculture.
The only other economic opportunity of this mammoth size lies in China, but minus all other stability, demographic, governance and institutional strengths, which only India has.
Even geopolitically in South Asia, the USA has to move away from the cold-war era foreign doctrine. Pakistan cannot be an ally, it is just a precariously dangerous liability for a great democracy like the USA both economically and politically, there is simply no singular reason including that of 'Afghanistan issue' to continue a working alliance with Pakistan. On the other hand, India today is more suitably placed to ensure geopolitical stability in South-Asia than any other nation today, both through its inherent strengths of diplomacy and its superior military strength.
I strongly believe Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have more than just political reasons to initiate a disruptive change in almost 70-year-old 'India/US foreign policy' which has run its time, and now stands almost irrelevant. Understandably, President Trump might not make any path-breaking moves in that direction on this trip, as he is due for an election back at home, in a few months' time.
However, I am very certain that on his highly probable re-election as President, Donald Trump or his immediate successor will create conducive conditions to ensure India changes its current USA policy, both in its own national interest and also to build a 'new bipolar world order' in less than a few decades.
President Trump should desist from just being a CEO of the USA on this historic trip to India and lead a larger political discourse as 'leader of the free world' for setting up partnerships with India, beyond just trade and economic trade-offs.
A decades-old successful businessman and a hard-ball negotiator that Donald Trump naturally is, should allow his role of the 'President of the USA' to take over him, to ensure a historic mile-stone in the US-India relations can be accomplished on this important trip to India.
It will be a huge diplomatic and political win for USA to lead and guide a 'change of heart' for a new foreign policy doctrine of India towards USA.
Narendra Modi is already one of the most popular world leaders and has a clear penchant for initiating disruptive changes for positive and powerful transformation of India. He has been initiating massive and sometimes even painful structural reforms domestically, for the last six years.
Modi will be more than glad to create new history in India-USA relations, provided President Trump walks a few steps towards India, with clear deliverables for the new relationship and new foreign policy doctrine to take shape. There are many initiatives both nations can take and especially President Trump can offer 'deals which India cannot refuse.'
How about an offer of permanent seat at the UN Security Council to India? How about the Most Favored Nation [MFN] status to India? How about simple and more friendly immigration laws for qualified Indian nationals immigrating to USA?
These can be some of the bold initiatives from President Trump, to lead India into becoming a formal ally for the USA, which will not only be a path breaking accomplishment for Donald Trump politically, the USA economically and strategically, but also a historic milestone for transforming current world order for shared responsibilities.
There are great opportunities on table for both President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this trip. Let us wait and see which of these opportunities the two global leaders will leverage for their national interests and for the larger interest of the world.
(The author is the chief spokesperson of BJP Telangana State, an organizational strategist and a global leadership coach)