The image of ‘India Shining’ is one that applies to only about 30 per cent of the Indian population, but it is taken by many around the world to apply to the majority of the population, when in fact the remaining 70 per cent of Indians have very little to do with that image at all.
Speaking at a seminar titled ‘India Today: Rising Star or Land of Snake Charmers?’ Dr Lall asserted that in her experience Pakistanis and Indians tended to have very “incomplete pictures” of one another, and that this tends to colour their perceptions.
She spoke about the development of the idea of India’s identity and its aims as a nation. Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and other leaders at the time of partition, she said, were primarily educated in the West, and so the anticolonial movement was shaped “primarily by Western ideas of the nation state”. “Nehru’s first challenge,” she said, “was framing a new identity for India around something. For Pakistan this was simple, as there was a common religion, but for India this was not workable. So he chose the idea of shared history.”
She argued that there is a disparity between the image of India and the realities on the ground. “There is an India of the 70 per cent, and an India of the 30 per cent. To the outside world, they see just the 30 per cent.”
Dr Lall provided a brief overview of Indian political and economic history, with particular emphasis on the 1991 financial reforms. These reforms, the speaker asserted, led to devolution of power from the Centre towards the provinces, thus leading to the growth of smaller, local parties. The rise of Hindu nationalism is also directly linked to the reforms that were brought about between 1991 and 1996, Lall was of the view.
Regarding the current elections in the country, Dr Marie said that the masses dictated the elections, and the Congress won something which most analysts did not factor into their calculations.
She also emphasized that the energy imperatives drive Indian foreign policy and that the country’s economic growth would come to a halt if India’s energy needs were not fulfilled.
“It is now energy that drives Indian foreign policy. Nothing else,” she said. “Right now there is no idea how they are going to meet the needs they will have in 2020, and even though there is increasing cooperation with other states, the energy secured so far is not enough.”
The professor was also critical about the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and said that the pipeline was crucial for India. She said that the project will likely not only provide India with energy, but will also foster regional stability. The economic and logistical feasibilities were all worked out in 2007-08, but the only remaining issue was the US’s objections to the deal. In the past this would not have stopped India, she said, but now there was the India-US nuclear deal to consider. However, Lall also warned that since India’s need for gas was greater than its need for nuclear energy, it would turn off water if Pakistan turns off the gas.
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