Marriage of convenience

India and the US are in a state of euphoria. New Delhi’s obsession with Washington is inching it towards a landslide cooperation in the fields of technology transfer. This amalgamation is first of its kind given to understand the American reservations and strict controls policy on domestic military technology transfer to foreign states. But India seems to be an exception as it is being pampered as a bully against China in the region. This is why the roadmap jotted down by visiting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh talks of defence industry cooperation, paving way for Indian hegemony as it bolsters its arsenal and flexes military muscles.

The deal has come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to undertake an official trip to Washington later this month. The fact that both the countries have agreed to broaden the scope of technology cooperation and production in realms such as air combat and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, munitions and the undersea domain makes it a perpetual civil-military industrial understanding. This poses a riddle to the Indian Establishment as to what extent it can withdraw or sidetrack from Russia, which has been India’s traditional defence supplier. As India imports armament from Moscow, Tel Aviv and several European states, this new moonlighting with Washington will surely push Delhi to walk a tightrope.

If camp politics is any criterion, this neo-roadmap makes it obvious that India is in the American bloc. Moreover, it has an axe to grind as it not only wants to deepen military-to-military cooperation but also assert itself against China with which it has territorial and leadership disputes. This strategy has been at work since Modi was given a clean chit by White House, exonerating him from Gujarat crimes and granting him a red carpet welcome by President Barack Obama. Modi and President Joe Biden will simply be cementing a new orbit of cooperation, which can be termed a marriage of convenience, unmindful of its repercussions for the region and beyond.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2023.

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