Summary and PowerPoint of the Presentation on…
India and the Rise of Narendra Modi
Implications for China and the U.S.
Atul Minocha provided a comprehensive overview of India today and the significance of its new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Minocha emphasized the vast diversity in India; e.g., while 55 Indians are on the Forbes Billionaires list, 1/3 of the population lives below the poverty line. It is a country that is mostly Hindu, but has significant Muslim and other religious populations. It is a country of over 2,000 ethnicities, 22 official languages and a diverse and growing economy (albeit, varies significantly by region).
The election of Modi brings to power a very different Prime Minister. On the one hand, Modi, as head of Gujarat Province, presided over the worst communal riots since Indian independence. His role placed him on the “do not issue a visa” list by the U.S. Still, Gujarat has been a model of economic growth and Modi’s popularity extends well beyond the Hindu population.
Minocha discussed India’s relations with China and the U.S., emphasizing Delhi’s “nonalignment status” during the Cold War. That irritated the U.S., but U.S. support of Pakistan also riled Indian leaders. With respect to China, both Minocha and Dr. Xiaoyu Pu stressed that relations between the two countries were fairly far down on the list of urgent concerns. Both stressed that while India primarily looked east, west and south, China’s focus is on the nearby seas and relations with big powers Japan, Russia and the U.S. and it’s “allies”. The two countries share a border, but one that is on the “roof” of the world. While there are border flare ups, relations have been stable if not overly friendly.
Pu stressed that the U.S/China relationship was more volatile than that between Beijing and Delhi, and America and China needed to be cautious that growing frictions, particularly in the South China Sea, did not escalate. Both felt that with India and China having new leaders in Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping, there would be opportunities for enhanced cooperation between the two Asian powers, as well as periods of friction.
Atul Minocha is an Indian born entrepreneur and author who now resides in the Reno area. China born Dr. Pu is a professor at UNR and was a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton and Harvard.