India ,China and Pakistan -The Power Push For Supremacy .

All Indians interested in politics watch the way how the 3 nations of Asia – India ,China and Pakistan behave and how they are received on the world scene .All of them are nuclear power so military sizes don’t really matter in case of a serious war .To that extent ,Pakistan gets a look in !! But its like looking into a slum .They are in a bad shape and don’t want to get out of the hole they have fallen into.As Hillary Clinton famously said “ They are encouraging snakes in their backyard” The snakes have started to bite –unfortunately even school girls ,schoolboys and teachers !! .Good luck to them .
China is a different ball game altogeather .I am not a foreign policy expert but have studied Chinese History from the 19th Century onwards .It is a far more dangerous threat to India than is Pakistan, and as such has to be balanced with American support .Hence when the Chinese President Mr Xi Jinping went to America ,I followed him with great interest .He is a smart man . Shrewd and clever –and never to be trusted .The Western-suited Mr Xi, with his glamorous wife in tow went about trying to create a favourable impression by talking about his bookshelves stuffed with Mark Twain and Thomas Paine.( who said Chinese only read Marx and Mao?!!!) He also tried to bring in a personal touch by recounting how he had gone to a bar in Cuba ,which was frequented by Ernest Hemingway and had a mojito !! Of course our Prime Minister is far removed from bars .He is most un American favouring Indian clothes, celibate, teetotaller, vegetarian and with a disputed political history that, a decade ago, meant he was refused an American visa.Add to it the fact that Indias economy is no where near Chinas .China is a true superpower .

But wait .!! In the contest for popularity in America our PM from a humble home in Vadnagar and who sold tea in a tea stall( if you don’t believe me ask Mani Shankar Aiyyar ), is beating Mr Xi hands down. He made full use of three big advantages. First, he is a politician who has risen through a democratic system, with all the skills getting elected requires,- street smart ,taking on his opponents ruthlessly , setting aside all the trappings of good manners taught at Doon or Mayo,and a passion which allows him to to flaunt emotions in public. He and Mr Obama greet each other with bear hugs. It is hard to imagine Mr Xi in such a clinch, or weeping as Mr Modi did when, in a public forum he told Mark Zuckerberg, about his mother. Second, Mr Modi enjoys the support of a large and influential community of Indian-Americans, enthusiastic lobbyists for India.There is no doubt that some of our finest men ,women and children are in America .Nadella ,Pichai ,Indra Nooyi and many others are powerful voices . They line up for Modi . It is almost impossible to imagine Mr Xi working similar crowds of Chinese-Americans. And lastly the more China appears a threat to American interests, the more important India appears as a counterbalance. The bigger the worries about China’s economy, the more hopes are invested in India’s.It is this grasp of reality that Modi has succeeded in tapping and highlighting .And herein lies the success story of Indias Foreign Policy under him .!!India beat China to it .

As for Pakistan – Kishore das song sums it up aptly
“Yeh kya hua,Kaise hua,Kab hua
Ab Kya Sunaye” .