India’s Neutrality In Russia-Ukraine War

As the war continues to rage between Ukraine and Russia, India which has a legacy of being one of the non-aligned nations has played a mature and diplomatically important role by pressing and focusing on the need for dialogue to resolve the differences and putting an end to the conflict which has now devastated scores of lives even as millions of people have been forced to live a life of refugees. From the day first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been calling on both sides, urging them to take on to the path of dialogue, diplomatically and by employing other means, to put an end to the war which is not only dangerous for the two warring nations, but also for the west, Europe including India itself. PM has made long calls not only to the Ukrainian President but also to the Russian President as well, trying to persuade both nations to immediately put an end to the violence, prevent undue human causalities and ensure that human rights are upheld on both sides. Even the Ukrainian President called on to the PM and urged him to use his influence to put an end to the war which has now destroyed Ukraine. India’s Prime Minister has played the role of being a statesman by putting up a face, and stance for which the country has always been remembered. Even while being a member of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) when the world was divided into two major blocks post World War II, India has always stood for dialogue to resolve the conflicts and even to the present day, continues to project the same stance. Questions were earlier raised over India’s role in the changing political landscape of the world, however, as things changed, the importance, as well as the influence of India, was well established and further strengthened by PM Modi’s repeated calls for sustained peace, initiating dialogue for the conflict resolution. Another side of PM’s statesmanship is depicted by the fact that, while the world order witnesses quite a shakeup lately, he has pitched for the country becoming more selfreliant in the defence sector—which not only is visionary but also depicts his quality of finding a chance for betterment even in chaos. At this juncture of history, no country can afford war and there is no other option but to go through the track of dialogue to end the differences if any. While that’s what the world needs right now, India, under PM Modi’s leadership—at least globally—is treading the right path. A violence-free world, peaceful world is what the world deserves.