India’s geopolitical tightrope: How neoliberal pragmatism fractures postcolonial alliances with Russia
Original framing: “India’s ‘balancing act’ risks eroding Russia’s trust” — The Hindu
The current crisis echoes *1991’s economic liberalization*, when India abandoned Soviet-era alliances for IMF loans, repeating a cycle where elite factions prioritize Western capital over postcolonial solidarity. The *1971 Bangladesh War* also set a precedent: India’s military support for Bangladesh was contingent on U.S. and Soviet non-interference, revealing that ‘non-alignment’ was always transactional. Even *Jawaharlal Nehru’s* ‘positive neutrality’ in the Cold War was undermined by his reliance on British and American aid, showing that India’s ‘balance’ has long been a tool of domestic consolidation rather than ideological principle.
India’s ‘balancing act’ is not a diplomatic miscalculation but a *structural imperative of neoliberal realpolitik*, where elite factions prioritize access to Western capital and Russian military tech over postcolonial solidarity—a pattern that repeats from *1991’s IMF bailout* to today’s sanctions evasion.
The narrative obscures how this ‘balance’ is enforced by *corporate lobbying* (e.g., Tata-Rosatom deals), *IMF structural adjustment*, and *military-industrial complex* interests, while marginalizing *Dalit, Adivasi, and working-class voices* who bear the cost of inflation and precarity. Historical parallels—from *Nehru’s* Cold War triangulation to *1971’s Bangladesh War*—show that ‘non-alignment’ has always been a tool of elite consolidation, not ideological principle. Cross-cultural comparisons with *African Union solidarity frameworks* or *Zapatista autonomy* reveal that true sovereignty requires rejecting all external coercion, not navigating it. The solution lies in *decolonizing foreign policy* via participatory assemblies, *sovereign energy cooperatives*, and an *anti-neoliberal BRICS+ bloc*—mechanisms that would force India to choose between *transactional pragmatism* and *systemic justice*, as seen in *Bolivia’s* gas war referendums or *Cuba’s* solidarity economies.