During her official visit to India, on April 10-12, 2023, Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Emine Dzhaparova bluntly put across the dichotomy of India’s pursuit of its interests in global affairs — as it always must — and, at the same time, appear to follow the path of morality, as a Vishwa Guru. She tweeted [Emine Dzheppar]: “Happy to visit India that gave birth to many sages, saints and gurus. Today #India wants to be the Vishwaguru, the global teacher and arbiter. In our case we’ve got a very clear picture: aggressor against innocent victims. Supporting [Ukraine] is the only right choice for true Vishwaguru.”
Echoing a wider view
Naturally, Ms. Dzhaparova was forcefully presenting her country’s case, but what she said cannot be ignored because what she asserted publicly, is, according to some observers, being articulated discreetly and privately by foreign diplomats. They are pointing to the wide variance between India’s desire to be a moral teacher and the cold pursuit of its interests in not condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All this is meant to push India to criticise Russia openly for its invasion of Ukraine even though India has made its unhappiness with Russia’s action against Ukraine already clear, including through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oft-quoted comment, “This is not an era of war.”
