The Dangers of Modi's India for the West

Coronavirus is the greatest gift China could have given to Narenda Modi's India.

Since 2016, India has been the main beneficiary of the Brexit/Trump era. Since Donald Trump became President of the United States, he has been working hard to strengthen alliances in Asia - not only with South Korea and Japan, but also with India. Additionally, as Britain is leaving Europe, Boris Johnson is turning his attention to improve ties and trade with the once Crown Jewel of the British Empire.

But although India has been called the world's largest democracy, there are legitimate reasons to be suspect of the Modi government. Its track record of human rights abuses towards its minorities are substantial and, until there was international outcry, this policy continued unabated. Today, Narenda Modi continues to harass and displace India's Muslim minority, but there is no reason to suspect that he will not once again return his attention to other minorities once India has grown more powerful.

The Coronavirus outbreak has only accelerated trends that were already well under way from the beginning of the Brexit/Trump era. The world is rejecting globalism and, with it, China's role as a key cornerstone in the global system. What is now accelerating is the speed at which the west is disassociating from China. This will bring more manufacturing jobs from China back to western countries' shores, but it is also very likely to bring more manufacturing power to India.

India is likely to take China's place as the manufacturing hub of the western world. But, like China, India's government is suspect. Some reports link the way Modi's party Bharatiya Janata rose to power with that of Nazism. Though calling right-wing movements like Brexit and the Trump Presidency Nazi is exaggerated rhetoric, Bharatiya Janata's policies of discrimination based on religion and ideology herald back to the German regime much more strongly than either movement in Britain or the US. Bharatiya Janata is a political ideology that sees Hinduism as truly Indian and, therefore, has no qualms with discriminating against other minorities that are not Hindu.

What seems likely to happen is this: as the US and wider western world continues to decline and a Cold War with China heats up, India will take over more of the western world apparatus in the political, economic and military spheres. This is reminiscent of Britain handing over military bases to the United States throughout the Second World War, leaving the United States as the primary superpower of the western world. Unfortunately for the west, Narenda Modi's India would be a very different sort of superpower to the United States.

It is entirely possible - and even likely - that once sufficiently strong enough, India will eventually turn on her allies to take more resources and force the western world to break apart. This has been a pattern throughout history. Some have speculated on a Chinese invasion of Australia. Unfortunately for Australia, in the current circumstances an Indian takeover is much more likely.

The only real hope is that the Indian populace will vote out Modi's government and a more moderate government will take control of India. But it will only be at that time the western world will know for sure just how much the link between Bharatiya Janata and Nazism is justified.