Some political commentators have argued that the stand taken by the Modi government on the conflict in Ukraine shows that it is wrong to consider India a subordinate ally of the United States. The fact that India has abstained on resolutions in the United Nations condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and the decision of the government to buy small quantities of crude oil from Russia, notwithstanding the US stand that countries should not buy Russian oil or gas, is seen as an illustration of India’s independent foreign policy and strategic autonomy. This is a superficial reading of the situation. India has over the last one and a half decades entered into a strategic alliance with the United States with the defense cooperation agreement as the centrepiece of this partnership. Under the Modi government, the military and strategic cooperation got cemented with the signing of the three so-called foundational agreements such as the logistics agreements (LEMOA) in 2016, the integration of communication network (COMCASA) in 2018, and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020. The nature of these agreements is such as those the United States has signed with its closest military allies.
India also became part of the quadrilateral alliance forged by the United States to advance its Indo-Pacific strategy which consists also of Japan and Australia. It should be noted that the QUAD came into being much before the incidents on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh in June 2020. The 2+2 ministerial forum which consists of the defense and foreign ministers of both sides was institutionalised and began its regular meetings in September 2018. It is in such a situation of growing proximity to the United States that the Indian stand on the Ukrainian conflict should be viewed. The United States is unhappy that India, a major non-NATO ally, has not joined the anti-Russia bandwagon. President Biden had remarked that the QUAD partners, Australia and Japan are fully on board but India is “somewhat shaky” on the Ukraine issue. Since then, the United States has piled pressure on India to follow the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union and to stop buying oil. The United States is particularly incensed at the talk of a rupee-rouble exchange of payments for the trading in oil.
In the meeting between Defence minister Rajnath Singh and US secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, they discussed ways to strengthen defense partnerships and advance the scope of bilateral defense cooperation. The statement issued after the meeting also stated that there would be closer collaboration between the defense industries. The United States will utilize this occasion, when India is asking for understanding for its continued reliance on Russian military supplies and spares, to commit India to buy more US weapons and defense equipment. The aggressive US stand against Russia in the Ukrainian conflict and the Indo-Pacific strategy are connected. They are both part of the US efforts to retain global hegemony in the face of its declining power to exercise such hegemony. India is important for this project especially as China is the ultimate US target. The quest to maintain India as a subordinate partner will not be given up, despite the friction over how to deal with Russia in the Ukrainian conflict. In the overall grand scheme of the United States, this is only a minor irritant.
