Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was just released on bail by the Supreme Court after being detained last month for suspected corruption, resorted to anti-Russian electioneering tactics as a quid pro quo for Western political support during his detention. According to him, “In Russia, there is only Putin, Putin. They want the same situation here. They want 400 seats because they want to change the Constitution, ensure that no elections are held and Modi ji should continue to be the prime minister.”
This stance shouldn’t surprise observers since the Indian National Congress (INC)-led “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance” (I.N.D.I.A.) bloc supports every single domestically focused information warfare attack against their country that the US has carried out since 2022. “Russia Gave Voice To India’s Concerns About American Meddling In Its Ongoing Elections” by exposing these tactics and others, which readers can learn more about from the preceding hyperlinked analysis.
India’s ongoing six-week-long elections that’ll end on 1 June represent a zero-sum choice between continuing the incumbent BJP’s conservative, nationalist, and sovereigntist policies or reverting back to the INC’s liberal, globalist, and dependency ones. What India requires at this crucial moment in the global systemic transition to multipolarity is continuity of policy at home and abroad, not any sudden shifts in either respect lest its Great Power trajectory be offset to the US and China’s strategic benefit.
“I.N.D.I.A.” clearly has no desire to retain their country’s excellent relations with Russia otherwise their leaders would have condemned fellow influential opposition members Kejriwal’s unfriendly electioneering. To be sure, India is unlikely to dump Russia in the political fantasy that their candidates collectively unseat the BJP-led “National Democratic Alliance”, but “I.N.D.I.A.’s” representatives would feel emboldened to more harshly criticize it in order to please their foreign patrons.
They probably didn’t expect Kejriwal to attack Russia shortly after the Supreme Court ordered his release on bail since this clearly exposed their bloc’s geopolitical leanings, but they’re also reluctant to publicly put him in check since they tried turning him into a top opposition leader during his detention. They’re therefore in a dilemma entirely of their own making after cozying up to the West in recent years for misguided electoral reasons and cheering those countries’ political support for Kejriwal.
As for what might have been going through his mind when he violated the unspoken rule of the decades-long Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership for officials in both states never to criticize the other in public, he probably wanted to ensure continued Western political support in the event that he’s convicted of his crimes. He either didn’t think about “I.N.D.I.A.’s” reputational interests in this largely Russian-friendly country or he just didn’t care since he might have selfishly sought to put his own personal interests first.
In any case, the cat is out of the bag and casual observers now know how his bloc would try to repay their patrons for their political support in the far-fetched event that their fortunes rise by next month, namely by ramping up public criticism of Russia with all that entails for damaging their relations. RT India, whose editors arguably appear to be biased against the BJP, would therefore do well to reconsider the wisdom of tacitly supporting “I.N.D.I.A.” since its interests contradict the Russian state’s.
