Covid-19 destroyed India's global dream 4
`We feel we can cope with this situation on our own. We will accept help if needed,` former prime minister Singh said in 2004.
This is considered one of the sharp political statements about India’s growing economic power, demonstrated by the Singh government’s offer of aid to the US after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as well as to China.
India’s determination to rely on itself and stop receiving aid from other countries when dealing with disasters is considered a matter of national dignity.
However, Modi was forced to change the policy.
Family members gathered near the cremation site of relatives who died of Covid-19 in Allahabad city, India, on May 4.
`We have given aid and now receive help. This shows a world that is cooperating and interdependent,` said India’s top foreign affairs official Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
Sushant Singh, senior expert at the Center for Policy Research in India, assessed this as a justification for the shameful turn of Prime Minister Modi’s nationalist agenda for 7 years.
Recently, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has been enthusiastically promoting the government’s `Vaccine Friendship` program, in which New Delhi has provided about 66.4 million doses of Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine produced in India.
However, the vaccination campaign in India is rated weak.
India is now waiting for 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US, as well as support from other traditional partners such as Russia.
Expert Singh pointed out that what was especially bitter for the Indian Prime Minister was that even Pakistan offered to support medical supplies and equipment.
Most Indians are also aware that the country has been in an economic recession since last year.
`Modi prides himself on having made India a world power and has personally enhanced the nation’s prestige through a series of global tours. Many of his supporters have even begun to think that India is on par.
`But now, Modi’s supporters realize that their dream of becoming a global power has vanished. Instead, they have to face the harsh reality that India is being considered a second-world country.
The pandemic has also hurt India in many other ways.
Previously, during the summit between leaders in March, the Quad group set a goal of providing one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine across the Indo-Pacific region by the end of 2022. Number of vaccines
However, with India struggling to assemble vaccines for its own citizens, the Quad will likely not be able to maintain the planned schedule.
Besides, China also seems to take advantage of India’s misfortune to gain advantage in the border dispute between the two countries, while strengthening relations with other South Asian countries.
India was not present in this meeting.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar once praised that under Prime Minister Modi, India’s diplomatic path is spreading in many directions at the same time.
`The country will need humility, sincerity and extraordinary efforts to revive and start over,` Singh said.
