Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, before their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on March 20 (Reuters Photo)

India, which can be described as a giant where chaos and growth energy coexist, has overtaken China to become the world’s most populous nation. Befitting its status as a rising superpower that ranks behind the United States and China it should now fulfill its responsibility in economic and military might as well.

India’s population now stands at 1.428 billion, according to data published by the United Nations on July 11, World Population Day. With an average age of 28, the country is expected to maintain brisk growth in the coming years.

India’s gross domestic product is the fifth largest in the world and its economy is projected to surpass that of Japan as well as Germany to become the third-largest a few years from now.

India ramped up its military spending as its economy expanded. It is now the fourth largest after the United States, China and Russia. The country also has its own nuclear arsenal.

But India’s postwar military footing is not so reassuring. It has been locked in territorial disputes with China and Pakistan, which occasionally flare up into armed clashes. New Delhi needs to understand that its behavior effects the security landscape all over the world, not just in the region.

Due to its traditional policy of nonalignment, New Delhi has stuck to a foreign policy strategy designed to avoid getting too close to either the West or the China-Russia camp. It has joined the Quad Security Dialogue, or Quad, a quadrilateral security cooperation framework to counter the threat from China, which also involves Japan, the United States and Australia. On the other hand, it is also a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of major emerging countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a political and security union of countries led by China and Russia that does not include the United States.

India has every right to pursue its national interest through a balanced, nonalignment foreign policy. If, however, its diplomatic stance is viewed as excessively self-centered and opportunistic, India could lose the trust of many partners. Because of its long-standing friendship with Russia, India refused to join international sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine and even increased cheap oil imports from Russia. This has frustrated the United States and Europe.

During the Cold War era, nonalignment was an astute strategy to avoid getting embroiled in the East-West confrontation. But India is now a major “pole” of power itself. It will host the Group of 20 summit in September.

India should play an active role to ensure a stable world order by, for instance, mediating between nations in conflict and serving as a bridge between the developed and developing worlds to achieve cooperative approaches to such global challenges as climate change.

India is also called “the world’s largest democracy.” Indeed, the country has maintained a free and democratic election system throughout the postwar period that led to regime changes. It has never experienced a military coup.

In recent years, however, there have been troubling signs that Hindu nationalism has been gaining ground in India, a multiracial and multi-religious society. U.N. organizations and international human rights groups have expressed concerns about suppression of minority groups, especially Muslims, in India.

The country’s record concerning freedom of speech is far from exemplary. India’s ranking in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index slipped to 161st out of 180 countries, down from 150th in the previous year, according to the latest report released by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. In 2021, the U.S. nongovernmental organization Freedom House downgraded India’s status from Free to Partly Free.

During his visit to the United States in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi countered a question about the human rights situation in India by declaring, “Democracy is our spirit.” His government is facing a serious test of its commitment to embodying the spirit.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 15