The Goa Declaration issued by the BRICS Summit after the conclusion of Goa meet will go down in history as a big achievement of member countries in promoting trade and good bilateral relations among the member countries. It was generally believed that BRICS does not dabble in political dimensions of summit meet and confines to trade relations only. Bu there has been a departure from this practice which, according to commentators is justified by a new global situation that invites the attention of all concerned.
On the sidelines of BRICS meet, Prime Minister Modi held bilateral talks with his Russian and Chinese counter parts separately. This was also an occasion for the Indian and the Russian leaders to ink a number of bilateral agreements of far-reaching consequences for India and the Asian region. Highlights of bilateral agreement were disclosed in a joint release besides the press conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Broadly speaking, what could be culled out of the press release or commentaries by official representatives is that Indo-Russian deliberations have primarily focused on trade, defence, security, hydrocarbon energy, transfer of technology and counter-terrorism. In all these sectors a broad and visionary approach has been made which reminds us once again of the heyday of Indo-Soviet relationship built during the early days of India’s independence. These relations came under strain soon after the Afghan crisis in 1979 and finally the implosion of the erstwhile Soviet Union. Moscow had to go through great political and social upheaval before the dust settled down and Indo-Russian relationship was put on proper rails again. Of late, some circles in and outside India were under the impression that India was pandering towards the US which occasionally earned Modi the ire of the Indian Left. They presumed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US provided access to Americans to Indian military bases and that this was tantamount to drifting away from its traditional defence ally, Russia
However, the ground reality is that Modi never lost sight of the importance of robust revival of Indo-Russian relations to find expression in trade and commerce, regional and global politics and strategy and above all in meeting the challenge of the menace of this century namely terrorism and fundamentalism.
From our point of view the biggest achievement of Goa BRICS Summit is the commitment of member states to consider terrorism as the biggest threat to humanity and to meet this challenge with full force. India, China and Russia, the three big countries of the BRICS forum all have been the victims of terrorism. Other member countries, too, have been affected in varying degrees. Therefore, fighting terrorism has become common cause among them. India has been regularly warning the world community against the dangers of allowing terrorism any space in any way. Speaking about terrorism, Modi minced no words in raising the accusing finger towards our western neighbour saying that it had become the epicenter of world terrorism. In their bilateral resolve, India and Russia declared zero tolerance against terrorism.
India has concluded a 5 billion dollar worth defence equipment deal with Russia including the ‘gamechanger’ S-400 Triumf long-range air defence systems. The other two deals relate to procuring four Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) guided-missile stealth frigates and setting up of a joint production facility for making Kamov helicopters. These big defence purchase deals are necessitated by our security demands as we are sandwiched between two hostile neighbours who are now working very closely to disrupt peace in the region and life in the country. It is true that India is among the top buyers of arms and armament and it is also true that India has to be prepared to any challenge from the recalcitrant neighbours. We need to understand that our long sustained policy of non-violence has been misunderstood by our adversaries. There was a time when the then Indian Prime Minister had gone to the length of saying that India did not need a large army. Those were the days of placid dreams and we were caught napping in Chinese aggression in 1962. World has changed and India of 2016 is not the India of 1962.
In regard to energy sources, India is starved of energy and Russia has the world’s largest hydrocarbon energy sources. The question is of transportation and of Pakistan obstruction. It appears from the statement of the Prime Minister given to the press in Goa that India and Russia are thinking about the route. In all probability the Chahbahar -Sirakhs – Daulatabad (Turkmenistan) – Tashkent – Siberian route, no doubt a long one but certainly through dependable regions could be explored at the end of the day to meet growing energy needs of India.
Another significance of Goa BRICS Summit for India is that PM Modi had a frank talk with the Chinese President XI. India conveyed to the Chinese leader that India does not like China obstructing India’s role and suggestions for contributing to peace process in the world. Obviously, Modi was hinting at Chinese obstruction to our admission to NSG our demand that Pakistan-based terrorist group and its leader namely Jaish-e-Mohammad and Azhar Molvi are designated by the UN as terrorists, were not friendly act on the part of China. These did not validate China’s assertion that she was against terrorism. This is a major re-drawing of our policy towards China and the Chinese President had to agree to talk the matter. There are signals that Beijing is interested in talking more to India on NSG issue and that on Azhar Molvi issue, she has reminded Pakistan of the views of international community.
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