During my childhood days, I remember my friend getting scolded by his mom no matter how many marks he scored. His mom had an imaginary goal [of him winning a Olympiad] that could not be satisfied and no matter what he did, she came out disappointed.
Even the Chinese state media had better appreciation for what India did [
India used BRICS-BIMSTEC summit to outmanoeuvre Pakistan, Chinese media says ] than Indians with their imaginary goals. In contrast, Indian media pointlessly hyped the fact that the BRICS didn’t call out strong on Pakistan’s terrorism.
A lot of Indians see these major summits with a single agenda and needlessly get disappointed when that imaginary agenda is not satisfied. These days it is all about the “condemn” drama. The discussion is about did X condemn about a recent terrorist attack. If they say we condemn, we lift our collars and if they don’t we throw tantrums. [Neither of these change anything on the ground].
This is exactly what Pakistan wants, by the way. After every terrorist attack, India gets needlessly distracted with its broader foreign policy goals, spends needless cycles on getting some useless sympathy from the major powers, shows itself as a whiny, needy nation that needs global approval for its own issues etc. For a nation aspiring to be a superpower this weakness doesn’t behoove to be so obsessed about Pakistan [
India May Have Over-Played Pakistan At BRICS Summit]. If Pakistan hit it, let it hit back with surgical strikes like it did. That gets global respect. But, this begging for global approval doesn’t it.
What do they expect? That China abuse its protege in that stage with its rivals? That is not going to happen and it is unlikely for any world body to declare a major nuclear power as a terrorist nation. And such declarations [of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan] etc have not brought down any level of violence. For a 1.3 billion nation, India has to move on and stop getting stuck on any particular issue.
What India achieved in BRICS 2016?
- It effectively brought together BRICS - the global power body with BIMSTEC - a regional organization it dominates. India wanted to bring BIMSTEC to the global stage for a long time. That organization could help India hold a pole position in its namesake ocean.
- It provided an opportunity to solidify partnership with Brazil. A number of deals in agriculture and other areas were made. BRICS: India, Brazil sign pacts to deepen cooperation in agri, cattle genomics
- India deepened ties with its old friend Russia [Brics sees rekindling of India-Russia romance]. Plenty of stuff came out of it, including India leasing a second nuclear submarine [India to get second nuclear submarine from Russia, deal struck in Goa] and a range of partnerships in oil and other sectors. [Reinventing old links]
- India showed itself as the shining economic light among the BRICS as all other powers are facing tougher economic issues than India. India stressed well on its growth rate being the highest in the BRICS and the highest among the major countries of the world.
- India scuttled SAARC summit, but brought all its other neighbors [sans Pakistan] in the BRICS summit [India used BRICS summit to outmaneuver Pak]..
Let’s realize one thing. Pakistan would continue to sponsor terrorism for the foreseeable future and no power is likely to do anything about it [it is not their problem]. Banning their cricketers and artists is not going to help neither does 3rd country support. Instead of losing our sanity over it and putting too much of our news cycles on it, let us continue to build our borders strong and nation strong. Let’s not define the success/failure of our foreign policy based on what someone has to say about Pakistan’s terror activities.