Ranjan Solomon
INDIA today speaks endlessly of sovereignty while practising submission. It invokes civilisation while negotiating from fear. It calls retreat “strategic autonomy” and cowardice “pragmatism.” What is unfolding before us is not balance or sophistication but a hollowed-out foreign policy that lacks the courage to state its own convictions. This is ‘darpok’ India—fearful, evasive, and morally compromised.
At the centre of this failure lies India’s posture towards the United States. Publicly, New Delhi claims independence. Privately, it flinches. It wants to be seen as a global power but behaves like a nervous subordinate, constantly calibrating its words to avoid American displeasure. This is not realism. It is capitulation without honesty.
The United States must be named for what it is: the most destructive imperial force of the modern era. From Vietnam to Iraq, from Libya to Afghanistan, Washington has left behind shattered societies, millions of deaths, and entire regions destabilised for decades. It enforces obedience not through persuasion but through sanctions, military threats, regime change operations, and economic coercion. It does not tolerate autonomy; it disciplines it.
India knows this history. And yet it refuses to confront it.
Instead, it performs an elaborate dance of doublespeak. It buys Russian oil while pretending it is morally conflicted. It deepens military ties with the US while claiming neutrality. It speaks for the Global South while aligning itself with the very power that keeps the Global South structurally dependent. This is not strategic depth. It is duplicity.
Integrity would require clarity. It would require India to say, without embarrassment or apology, that its national interests will not be dictated by Washington. That unilateral sanctions are economic warfare, not international law. That no country responsible for mass civilian deaths and endless wars has the moral authority to lecture others on democracy or human rights.
India cannot say this because it fears consequences. It fears sanctions. It fears diplomatic pressure. It fears exclusion from Western markets and institutions. And so it chooses silence, evasion, and ambiguity. This is not diplomacy. It is fear management.
Non-alignment was never about sitting quietly on the fence. It was about asserting independence in a world dominated by empires. The leaders who shaped that vision understood that sovereignty without defiance is an illusion. Today’s India has abandoned that legacy. It does not oppose empire; it tries to benefit from it without confronting it.
This moral retreat is visible everywhere. India avoids condemning US wars with clarity. It dilutes its language on Palestine to avoid offending Western allies. It accepts sanctions regimes it knows are illegal. It issues statements so carefully worded that they convey nothing except anxiety.
A sovereign state does not whisper its principles. It states them plainly.
What makes this worse is the global moment. Across Latin America, Africa, and West Asia, countries are openly questioning Western dominance. The Global South is demanding a multipolar world that does not revolve around American permission. Resistance is rising, even at significant cost. India, however, wants the rewards of defiance without paying its price. It wants to look bold while behaving cautiously. It wants nationalist applause at home and Western approval abroad.
This schizophrenia is unsustainable.
Civilisational rhetoric without courage is theatre. You cannot speak of ancient wisdom while trembling before the US Treasury. You cannot claim moral leadership while refusing to name genocide when committed by Western allies. You cannot posture as a strong state while adjusting your spine to suit imperial pressure.
India today is loud domestically and deferential internationally. Aggressive towards neighbours, apologetic towards empire. This is not strength. It is insecurity.
Integrity, by contrast, is uncomplicated. It means rejecting unilateral sanctions. It means defending the right to trade freely. It means condemning imperial wars without qualifiers. It means standing with oppressed peoples consistently, not selectively. Above all, it means accepting consequences without humiliation.
Integrity does not promise comfort. It promises self-respect.
Fear may buy time, but it never earns respect. India’s current posture might temporarily placate Washington, but it erodes credibility everywhere else. No one trusts a state that refuses to stand clearly. No one respects a power that wants benefits without responsibility.
History is unforgiving to fence-sitters. It remembers those who stood firm and those who folded quietly.
India must now choose what it wants to be. A sovereign republic willing to assert its interests openly, even against empire, or a cautious state that survives by appeasing power. Both are choices. Only one has dignity.
Because cowardice dressed up as diplomacy remains cowardice. Two-faced policy is not realism; it is moral bankruptcy. And a nation that fears asserting justice has already surrendered something more valuable than oil, arms, or alliances.
It has surrendered its integrity.
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Ranjan Solomon is a writer, researcher and activist based in Goa. He has worked in social movements since he was 19 years of age. The views expressed here are the author’s own and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them. He can be contacted at ranjan.solomon@gmail.com
