By and large the Indian Left is maintaining distance with Communist Russia on the issue of its invasion on Democratic Ukraine, though blaming USA and the Europe-led NATO as the sole responsible for the tension. It find fault with Russia for moving its forces into another country.
However, surprisingly certain sections, who are known as anti-Communist and close to Hindutva are showing sympathy towards Russia, for its `firm action’ action `divisive forces.
For such forces, Vladimir Putin is emerging as a `new model’ that India should adopt if it wants to defeat external forces and exterminate ‘internal enemies’. Putin is now admired in the Hindutva ecosystem for his ruthlessness, decisiveness and his ambition to expand Russia’s borders.
On March 7, 2022, a few dozen members of Hindu Sena took out a rally in Delhi’s Connaught place in support of Russia in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. During this rally, its chief actually demanded that the Indian army should be deployed in the war to support Russia against “fascist” Ukraine.
Previously, the Hindu Sena, in what can only be called a farcical comedy, had shown its support for Russia by putting up posters on a statue of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin located in Mandi House, New Delhi. This poster read: “Indian Hindus are with Putin and Russia in establishing the Soviet Union. Jai ho Akhand Russia. Jai Bharat”.
As reported by The Indian Express, the chief of Hindu Sena, in response to questions asked about the posters had said: “…Russia has always been a true friend of India. We pray and support Russia getting back their old Soviet Union and the country taking all necessary action to safeguard their borders”.
The action of Hindu Sena is just one example of how Russia-Ukraine is being perceived in India. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, general Indian public opinion regarding the war has been divided into pro-Russia and anti-Russia voices.
The Civic Media Observatory pointed out that the BJP and hyper-nationalist Hindutva groups have also used the war to position Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an indispensable global leader and promote the establishment of a “United India” (Akhand Bharat).
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Indian social media has been buzzing with tweets and memes demanding that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi take advantage of the world’s preoccupation with Ukraine to mimic Putin and annex `Pak- Occupied Kashmir’ (PoK) . According to this narrative, India’s ally, Russia, is setting an example of “state reunification,” and the West is not stopping it.
A Video on Facebook: “The world is busy in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Modiji has made his move on PoK?” has received half a million views, is an interview with a politics expert who states that India should follow the example of Russia and attack Pakistan. India should “grant independence” to the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, and annex “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.”
The item claims that other countries have done nothing to stop the Ukraine war, and they will similarly not stop India if it decides to attack Pakistan. The interview was conducted by “The Newspaper TV,” which operates on social media.
Collapse of Soviet empire a greatest catastrophe
Putin said openly several times that the collapse of the Soviet empire “was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century” and had fostered separatist movements inside Russia. In Russian Parliament and also out-side on several occasion, he pointed out that collapse also was a tragedy for Russians.
In March, 2018, Putin publicly said he would reverse the collapse of the Soviet Union if he had a chance to alter modern Russian history. Now, Putin’s Ukraine move is believed to be part of a bigger and desperate design to somehow attempt a reversal of the ‘humiliation’ that he felt at the collapse of the Soviet Union or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991.
Just prior to marching his forces into Ukraine, Putin’s deployment of troops in two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognising them independent though said to be responding to threats to its own security from Ukraine’s increasingly close relations with the US-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), many suspects was part of his dream of restoring “Akhand Russia” (USSR).
In 2014 Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Previously, in 2008 when Putin was Prime Minister, Russia invaded Georgia and annexed South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In clear terms, Putin broke both Georgia and Ukraine into pieces.
Ukraine was the largest of 15 Soviet republics and Putin says its people are an integral part of Russian history and culture. On the other hand, Ukraine calls this view a politically motivated and over-simplified version of history.
Russia captured Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and has backed separatists who control parts of eastern Ukraine and fight Ukrainian government forces.
Putin, who served in the Soviet-era spy agency KGB and has been in power in Russia for more than two decades, has used the Soviet Union’s World War II defeat of Nazi Germany to stir patriotism and fuel dreams of a new Russian identity.
It is Putin’s history of ‘breaking the enemy nation in pieces’ that makes him attractive to Hindutva sympathizers.
Vladimir Putin has been at the helm of the Russian Federation for almost eighteen years, that is, for more than half of the period the federation has existed since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Putin has also served twice as the prime minister of Russia.
India’s partition felt as a British’s `conspiracy’
Like Putin, who is confident that collapse of USSR was a `western conspiracy’, many Indians are still believe that India’s partition in 1947 was a big `British conspiracy’. There was no cultural, geographical or historical basis for the creation of `Pakistan’. The formation of Bangladesh as a separate state, with almost half of population was the testimony to say that Pakistan’s creation was `artificial’ and a big `political coup’
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the previous political avatar of BJP’s one of the founding principles was to realize `Akhand Bharat’, with the merger of all erstwhile parts of British India into one country.
RSS former chief Balasaheb Devaras even suggested before realizing that dream, for the political purpose India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should form into a confederation. The BJP leadership is practically silent on the issue of `Akhand Bharat’, since its inception. However, there are millions of people in the country who are still dreaming for such unification.
With this background, such people are naturally finding a ray of hope in Putin’s dream of `Akhand Russia’, getting a hope that they can too strive for fulfilling their dream in near future.
That’s why; presently the pro-Russia camp is largely dominated by Hindutva voices. In this connection several commentators are citing the historical friendship between India and Russia, of Russia being one of the major suppliers of defence hardware, India’s geopolitical concerns, and moreover, alleged racists attacks upon Indian students stranded in Ukraine by Ukrainian security apparatus as the reason for this support to Russia.
But more than these reasons, it is the nature and style of Vladimir Putin’s leadership that attracts the Hindutva supporters. It is his image of ‘strongman’, unafraid and determined to do whatever it takes to consolidate the position and establish hegemony of Russia on global platform that makes him an admiring figure.
Such sentiments leading social media ecosystem with full of posts and posters calling upon India to learn from Putin on how to deal with Pakistan and China as well as ‘internal enemies’.
