The Washington Post (WaPo) published a detailed report earlier this week about how “An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India”, which cites current and former US and Indian officials to shed more light on the greatest crisis in Indo-US ties in a generation. Last November, the Justice Department alleged that an unnamed Indian official conspired to assassinate a Delhi-designated terrorist-separatist on US soil with dual American citizenship, which India vehemently denied.
The US’ permanent bureaucracy (“deep state”) loves leaking to WaPo so its latest report should be seen as the American Establishment firing a shot across the bow against India. It doesn’t matter what one thinks about its veracity or lack thereof since the significance rests in the messages being sent through these means. Chief among them is the claim that the former foreign intelligence chief authorized this mission with approval from the National Security Advisor and a wink from the Prime Minister.
It’s also scandalous that WaPo claimed to have spoken to unnamed Indian officials, which is meant to stoke divisions within the premier’s inner circle and impugn the integrity of his security services. Another narrative weaved within their article is that Prime Minister Modi has transformed India from a democracy into a dictatorship within eight years and is now assassinating dissidents abroad. Crucially, this is being spewed during India’s ongoing elections, thus possibly manipulating voters’ perceptions.
Therein lies the most important message being sent by the “deep state” to India. The American Establishment is continuing to meddle in India’s democratic process in order to signal to Prime Minister Modi that it no longer approves of his leadership in spite of the likelihood that he’ll win re-election. His refusal to subordinate India to the US as its junior partner by not condemning and sanctioning Russia nor joining AUKUS+’s NATO-like containment of China was unforgivable in their eyes.
Likewise, the US’ ruling liberal–globalists despise his conservative–nationalist policies at home, which is why their media proxies have taken to fearmongering that he’s a “fascist” and trying to provoke regional divisions during the ongoing election. Relatedly, some American conservative-nationalists are also being manipulated into thinking that his planned border fence with Myanmar is anti-Christian, which is meant to generate bipartisan support for possible sanctions pressure during his likely third term.
As Indo-US ties deteriorate alongside Indo-Sino ones, Sino-US ties are becoming comparatively more manageable than at any time in the recent years, which is why some Indians suspect that those two are negotiating a deal for a “new normal” between them that’ll inevitably be at their country’s expense. This perception was elaborated on in this analysis here from early April that interested readers should review to learn more about the reasons behind it.
The purpose in being aware of this viewpoint is to better understand the damage that WaPo’s latest “deep state”-connected report inflicted on bilateral relations. Indian suspicions of American intentions had already reached levels unseen since the US imposed sanctions on their country following its nuclear tests in 1998. The past two-and-a-half decades’ worth of hard-earned trust evaporated in an instant after this article abruptly ended the “golden age” in their relations and presaged the coming of a dark future.
The only chance of repairing the damage that was just done is if Trump returns to power and succeeds in purging his “deep state” of the liberal-globalists that are responsible for ruining relations with India among their own follies over the past four years. Unless that happens, and neither his re-election nor the success of his envisaged institutional reforms can be taken for granted, then a period of intense Indo-US competition is expected as these former partners transform into “frenemies” in the New Cold War.
