Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) Al Nahyan coursing down the roads of Ahmedabad in an unprecedented show of bonhomie.
The roadshow testifies to the fact that the UAE has become a steadfast partner to India over the years and especially so after Prime Minister Modi unveiled the contours of his “Think West” policy soon after being voted to office in 2014.
Through this instrumentality, India has gone on to demonstrate unimaginable diplomatic dexterity: welding together at one end of the spectrum Israel and at the other the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This impossible jumble of contradictions has been christened I2U2 or the India-Israel-UAE-U.S.A quad.
Though they will never acknowledge it, India’s diplomatic clinch with the UAE is a source of consternation for many on the ideological Left – politicians and experts alike.
This is because the blossoming relationship undercuts the so-called Left-Liberal ecosystem’s attempt to position India as an exclusivist Hindu Rashtra where Muslims are being aggressively pushed to the margins.
This narrative is once again peaking as the nation draws closer to the date of the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya.
You’ve heard the propaganda. From Rahul Gandhi saying that India is ruled by the Hindu equivalent of the militantly communal “Muslim Brotherhood”, to Shashi Tharoor dismissing India as a “Hindu Pakistan” and several in between painting a dire picture for the future of Muslims in an incipient “Hindu Rashtra”.
But if India had ghettoized its Muslim population and Hindu supremacists had launched a genocide, why would Arab countries be deepening their engagement with India under Modi’s leadership? In fact, if anything, several Arab and Islamic countries have elevated ties or taken pro-India positions on issues that could risk friendship and credibility with brother Islamic countries like Pakistan and Turkiye.
Many Gulf nations for instance were pointedly muted when the Modi government abrogated Article 370 and Article 35(a), paving the way for the constitutional and emotional integration of Jammu & Kashmir with mainland India. This even when some Western democracies expressed their reservations.
The UAE, as a matter of fact, surprised perhaps even New Delhi by backing the abrogation to the hilt. The UAE called the political reform a step towards improving “social justice and security and confidence of the people in local governance…further stability and peace”.
For this endorsement, the UAE had to endure an earful from its traditional partner Pakistan that stakes claim to Jammu & Kashmir.
In September 2023, while hosting the G-20 summit the Modi government pulled off the equivalent of a diplomatic coup by floating the India Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEEC). The grouping will lock the Middle East and Europe into an immutable economic embrace with India. Moreover, it also thwarts China’s growing influence in the region through the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).
Many members of the anti-Modi ecosystem will insist that these partnerships should not be considered an endorsement of India’s secular credentials under the NDA. That ties between India and Gulf nations are purely transactive and certainly above the tug of morality. While countries have sometimes chosen to overlook sticky problems, especially linked to human rights, it would be naive to suggest that the UAE – an Islamic nation – would go the extra yard for purely commercial reasons to sacrifice Muslim interests in India. OIC, the umbrella grouping of Gulf nations has always spoken up for Muslim rights around the world.
And if this weren’t the case Modi’s BJP would never have dropped its spokesperson’s after their utterances drew flak from Middle Eastern nations.
Even the United States, that is economically overleveraged to China, has demonstrated the nous to denote the Xi Jingpin administration in Beijing as one of “particular concern” for engaging in and tolerating “particularly severe violations of religious freedom”. So why would Gulf Nation’s hold back on India?
The United States has never conferred any significant state award upon any visiting Chinese Head of State. Modi, on the other hand, has been singled out for honours by almost all Gulf nations.
Forging ties with a nation for self-serving ends is one thing, but imparting certificates to its leader demonstrates a whole new level of commitment. A Civilian award denotes the respect that the people – in this case Muslims in Islamic nations – have for the Indian Prime Minister. Respect as we know is earned through actions.
The left-liberal ecosystem’s attempt at propagating the “Islamophobia” bogey is looking more and more like a jaded enterprise with no-takers.
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