According to India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, Prime Minister Narendra Modi apparently emphasised the principle of inclusivity in the course of his meeting with Myanmar’s coup leader-turned-president, Min Aung Hlaing, during the latter’s first visit since assuming Myanmar’s presidentship after a nod from that country’s Parliament. Diplomacy is a fecund soil for euphemisms. It is possible that what
Mr Modi was referring to — indirectly — was not only the rehabilitation of Myanmar’s tattered democracy project but also the sensitive issue of Aung San Suu Kyi’s long incarceration — she has been under arrest since the coup of 2021 — albeit in the context of Myanmar’s return to international embrace and peace. India’s engagement with Naypyidaw has, expectedly, drawn murmurs from the democratic world deeply uncomfortable with Myanmar’s repeated stifling of democracy through military interventions. However, New Delhi’s position on this delicate matter was made clear by Mr Misri who stated that disengagement with Myanmar was not on the menu: the resultant vacuum, Mr Misri argued correctly, led to other actors, not necessarily benevolent towards India and its interests, filling up the space ceded by New Delhi. China, incidentally, has been Myanmar’s principal economic and political patron. Stable ties with Myanmar are also crucial for peace in India’s Northeast. That stability has economic benefits as well. Two connectivity projects that India has been deeply invested in — the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project being
one — have been adversely affected by the civil war in Myanmar.
When it comes to Myanmar, New Delhi, evidently, has prioritised its geostrategic interests over idealism. This is a pragmatic position. The international fraternity’s censure of Naypyidaw’s brutal crackdown on democracy is not unwarranted. But today, some of the flag bearers of Western liberalism and democracy can be tarred with the same brush. The depredations of the United States of America in Iran or in Latin America are instances of the West’s double standards. In this age of flux, when the much-vaunted rules-based global order is being brought under unprecedented strain, New Delhi’s emphasis on its own security and economic interests in relation to a restive, neighbouring country makes eminent sense. The trick, though, would be for India to continue to nudge Myanmar to refurbish its sodden democratic credentials even as the latter attempts to end its international isolation. The world’s re-engagement with Myanmar could put pressure on the junta and rekindle the flame of liberty in that country.