Modi-Putin meet amid global turbulence
Sanjaya Baru, distinguished journalist and student of international affairs, was spot on in his edit-page analysis, in The Economic Times (May 24), of the recent one-on-one Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. He set the canvas with a deft touch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits to Berlin to converse with Chancellor Angela Merkel, had also met with French President Emmanuel Macron, spoken on the telephone with US President Donald Trump, before journeying to Sochi for his informal meeting with the Russian leader. He was thus well prepared, fortified by his knowledge and grasp of the international chessboard and the mood of its leading players. Modi, the show man, was in his element; his pleasure all too evident in the company of his Russian interlocutor, but the essential significance of his presence in Sochi was lost on most Indian media pundits, averred Mr Baru, beguiled by their own specious assessments that the Indo-Russian exercise was merely an attempt to reset the button – customized drivel to which serious readers have grown to accept as par for the course.
Mr Baru, with a keener eye, detected the true significance of Sochi, the substance of which is the emergence of a new balance of global power. Mr Baru’s passage is well worth quoting: ‘Those stuck within Cold War paradigms are unable to see the new and emerging reality for what it is. India is beginning to deal with a world it has long sought. Its strategists debated whether to call it “multipolar” or polycentric. But, in the end, they all agreed that it would be a world in which there would be multiple centres of power dealing with each other in a ever-changing kaleidoscope of patterns of interest and power.’
No sooner was printer’s ink dry, than French President Emmanuel Macron beat a path to Moscow to parley with President Putin, the former’s previous cold hostility to Russia replaced with new warmth. At a joint press conference, Mr Macron referred to the iconic figures of Russian literature, inevitably to Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn, and to the heroism of Leningraders [now St Petersburg] as they resisted unflinchingly the German Nazi invaders during the Second World War; topping this with an approving reference to Russia’s increasing global presence, which made the country an essential partner in the resolution of regional and global conflicts and the maintenance of international order; he promised, in tandem with Russia, to uphold the nuclear deal with Iran, one that the Trump Administration is determined to abort.
As President Macron gave vent to his views, President Trump’s decision to call off his meeting with North Korean President Kim Jong-un with the characteristic , followed by emollient hopes of an eventual meeting between them was another example of the capricious feature of contemporary US foreign policy. US Secretary of State Pompeo’s ultimatum to Iran, couched brutally, was reminiscent of Adolf Hitler. So also is the language of the Administration’s National Security Advisor John Bolton and his preposterous talk of the Libyan model for North Korea. President Kim bristled at the suggestion, recalling, no doubt, how the Libyan leader Muammer Gadaffi had been disemboweled on the roadside to the chuckled acclaim of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The last minute US withdrawal of the invitation to China to attend a naval exercise was typically discourteous, a reminder that Washington under its present dispensation is no Camelot.
Surprise, surprise, Harsh Pant, the academic at London’s King’s College, a veteran critic of India’s China and Russian policies, sang from a different hymn-sheet in the Delhi-based Mint newspaper (May 24). He writes; ‘The challenge for India is to use its convergence with Russia and China on global issues to bring a semblance of balance to American capriciousness on the global stage.’
That, one fears, is a challenge too many for India. Those with ‘special relations’ with America must do the job before a nuclear Armageddon extinguishes life on earth. The partially sighted Indian community of sceptics, who habitually complain of Moscow’s willingness to engage with the Taliban and Pakistan, must know that the US has done much the same, drone strikes and all.
John K. Cooley’s investigative work, Unholy wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism reveals Washington’s past collusion with jihadi forces and the Pakistan military for reasons of realpolitik. US Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar (the former subsequently Secretary of State in the Obama Administration) piloted an aid package worth $20 billion through Congress, including military supplies, for Pakistan. Earlier US Administrations, as persistently, had ignored Islamabad’s covert acquisition of nuclear weapon technologies. If you wish to fix the present, take on board lessons of the past.
Stock exchange boom, Maruti’s India surge
India’s stock market outperformed its global peers in the four years since the Modi government took office in Delhi. Between 26 May 2014 and 23 May 2018 benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rose 38.95 per cent and 41.73 per cent respectively. Broadly parallel to this, but exceeding its time-frame, is the onward march of Maruti Suzuki, the Japanese automobile company.
Suzuki, a little known brand, entered the Indian market way back in the early 1990s, as Maruti, a joint venture with the Indian government. It was virgin territory, with primitive Hindustan car the sole competitor. Prospective buyers had to wait some six months before they could own one. The advent of Maruti cast a ripple, which soon became a wave, when the government was persuaded to divest its majority shareholding in the company, enabling the board to operate with a free hand.
Maruti Suzuki has never looked back since. It dominates the transformed Indian market by many a league. Its arresting models, sales outlets and servicing facilities have mushroomed across India. India (and Indonesia) are now the Maruti’s export hubs to Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Its Japanese peers Toyota and Honda still have a greater global reach by far. But such is the scale of Suzuki’s Indian operation, and such the strength of its platform in the country that Toyota has entered into cooperative Indian ventures with its smaller Suzuki rival. If you can’t beat them, join them, would appear to be the motto. For example Suzuki will supply Toyota its popular Vitara Breeza and Baleno models in India, getting Toyota’s Corolla in return. More model swaps or even joint production could follow.
With an eye to further opportunities in India, Suzuki has entered the two-wheeler market of motorcycles and scooters, both popular in India’s expanding urban centres, Tier II towns and vast swathes of rural heartland. Customers lacking deep pockets for a car can shell out for an affordable scooter or motorbike. Transport over shorter distances is equally fast, if not faster, along traffic congested city roads and streets. Maruti Suzuki has made its early moves into the two-wheeler market, where competition is stiff. Its management, engineering and marketing skills are being brought into play. Whether Maruti’s two-wheeler challenge is able replicates its performance in the automobile sector is open to question. In the auto sector the Indian sky is the limit.
Cricket icon A.B. De Villiers declares
The South African cricketer A.B. De Villiers has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket. The India Premier League (IPL) 2018, where he had donned the colours of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), was his swan song, and memorable it was, too. RCB may have disappointed their huge following by making a premature exit, but A.B’s genius at white ball cricket held them in thrall, if only for the last time. His batting was pure magic, the catch he took on the boundary – a ballet dancer’s leap, arm outstretched, ball safely in hand – would have done credit to the legendary Nuriyev.
A.B. said he had ‘run out of gas,’ that it was time for others to take over. That they will undoubtedly do, without achieving the heights of the departed Master. De Villiers embodied the finest traditions of a Great Game: a gentleman to his fingertips, of humble mien, never a cross word nor any inappropriate gesture to opponents, umpires, colleagues, ever appreciative of the crowd’s joyous acclaim. A glory has passed. Whence comes another?
