The drive for a “Greater India”: another factor in imperialist disorder

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World imperialist competition today is dominated by the tendency towards ‘every man for himself’, by an increasingly irrational and chaotic dynamic. These are fundamental characteristics of the terminal phase of decadent capitalism, the phase of decomposition.

In such conditions “it is easier for each power to stir up trouble for its adversaries, to sabotage the alliances that threaten it, than to develop for their own part solid alliances, and to assure stability on their own ground. Such a situation evidently favors the game of secondary powers, to the extent that it is always easier to stir up trouble than to maintain order.” (‘Resolution on the international situation’, International Review no. 82)

For nearly three decades, Rwanda has presented its regime to the world as a beacon of development and stability while systematically undermining the stability and territorial integrity of Congo, by supporting consecutive military gangs such as the M23 militia which controls large parts of the country.

Turkey, a member of NATO, is constantly at odds with this alliance, opposing Western sanctions against Russia and supporting Hamas in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In Syria, it exacerbates the chaotic conditions there by attacking the Kurdish forces which are supported by the USA. In Libya, it directly opposes the forces supported by Russia.

India, whose imperialist policies we cover in this article, in turn extends its relative power by stirring up trouble in the region. For a number of years it has been actively supporting armed ‘liberation’ forces and, until 2021, even the Taliban against the Pakistani government. Today, it supports ISKCON, a religious organisation of the Hindu minority, against the new course of the Bangladeshi regime which, after 53 years, has re-established political ties with Pakistan.

Turkey and India are prime examples of secondary powers that have put a spanner in the works of the efforts of Biden’s USA to develop a coherent alliance against Russia and China.

Western media characterise India as a rising world player: “India is quietly laying claim to economic superpower status” (The Guardian); “India: From snake charmers to global superpower” (Deutsche Welle); “India needs to assert its superpower arrival” (Asia Times in Hong Kong); “Why India will become a superpower” (The Financial Times). In the meantime, India’s growing influence and so-called responsibility to the world is also acknowledged by the G7. The county has already participated several times as a guest at the G7. But in this article we will argue that the conditions for India to become a primary world power on the model of China do not exist, and that India’s main role will be to exacerbate the global tendency towards fragmentation and disorder, above all in its own Asian ‘neighbourhood’.

Indian imperialism and its ideological cover

In the West India is generally not portrayed as a belligerent nation, and the leftist organisations don’t call it an imperialist power. And the facts seem to prove them right: in the 2000s India rejected participation in military interventions such as in Iraq in and Afghanistan, and also rejected requests for military assistance from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal. Furthermore, its response to provocations by China at its border has always been rather restrained. "We have never moved forward with the feeling of expansionism", as Modi said during an address in the Parliament of Guyana[1].

On the other hand, throughout the short history of India as an independent nation, Hindu nationalists have always dreamed of a Greater India. They aspire to rebuild the Akhand Bharat (Undivided India) and Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation), a nation matching the size and glory of the Vedic Golden Age between 1200–600 B.C. India’s right-wing factions view South Asia as their backyard and the Indian Ocean as their own sea. In particular, the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) openly propagate the “political rearrangement” of all contiguous states, with a reunited India as the motherland.

This ultra-nationalist ideology received a particular boost with the coming to power of Modi in 2014, glorifying a return to the so-called good old times when Hindu culture was still dominant in the region. Some examples:

  • New school textbooks in which a picture is presented of India as a Hindu-only country, as though this should have existed throughout history.
  • A mural in the new parliament in New Delhi depicts the map of Undivided India, spanning from Afghanistan to Myanmar and from Bhutan to the Maldives, and even extending to parts of China and Iran.

The same ultra-nationalist ideology also underlies the change in foreign policy from non-alignment to ‘multi-alignment’. The slogan of the populist government is: “there are neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies but only permanent national interests”. This idea gives India a free hand to pursue its expansionist policy outside the major military conflicts, without being compelled to take sides in any military conflict or open war between so-called ‘friendly’ nations, such as in the present war between Russia and Ukraine.

The imperialist appetite of India is aimed in particular at the increase of its sphere of influence in the immediate region and at turning the neighbouring countries into obedient vassal states via the so-called “Neighbourhood First Policy”. This policy brings India regularly into a deep involvement in the internal affairs and diplomacy of these countries, first of all Pakistan[2], cultivating support for pro-India forces by manipulating political parties and religious groups, and opposing and sabotaging the activities of the bourgeois factions who represent opposing aims.

 Growth of Indian militarism

It seems to have been forgotten, or has even been consciously swept under the carpet, but since its independence India has performed different military operations in the region: in 1961 it conquered the Portuguese colonies Goa, Daman, and Diu; in 1971 its military forces supported the independence of Bangladesh, and in 1988 it intervened in the Maldives. It has also intervened in the ‘civil war’ in Sri Lanka as a ‘peacekeeping force’, ending up in open military confrontations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In 1989, the Indian army invaded Jammu Kashmir after an armed uprising by local militias, which it managed to suppress after a three-year fight. Since then, India has occupied the region in a very similar manner to the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli IDF. Subsequently India has also militarily intervened numerous times under the umbrella of ‘peacekeeping’ missions of the UN, where it of course defended nothing but its own imperialist interests.

India is engaged in a frenzied process of militarisation. It is a nuclear power with more than 150 atomic warheads, which it constantly builds up in order to gain parity in destructive power with its most feared nearby enemies. “India currently operates eight different nuclear-capable systems: two aircraft, five land-based ballistic missiles, and one sea-based ballistic missile. At least five more systems are in development”. In order to defend its status as regional power “the expected expansion of India’s nuclear forces is increasingly focused on a militarily superior China”[3]

Finally, India has made important steps in the use of ‘space’ as a domain for defending its imperialist interests. It has steadily increased its presence with new military satellites. The successful first ASAT test in March 2019, aimed at disabling a satellite in space, gave a significant flip to Indian capabilities. Last year India conducted its first-ever military space exercise, “Antariksha Abhyas 2024”, destined to improve and integrate India's space capability into military operations.

India as a destabilising factor in the region

India is the biggest player in South Asia and it has much to gain from maintaining stability in the region, since only this will permit it to extend its grip on this part of the world. But the deepening of the world economic crisis and its devastating effects on the social situation in the weaker countries, as well as the incapacity of the bourgeoisie of these countries to offer any viable perspective for their own population, is constantly accelerating the tendency towards ‘every man for himself”, internally and towards the outside. Even weaker countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka are more and more prone to pursue their own imperialist policies. These conditions make it far more difficult for India to maintain order in what the ultra-nationalists in India consider as their backyard.

And this centrifugal tendency is reinforced by the irrational Hindutva[4] policy of the Indian regime. India’s neighbouring countries are fundamentally opposed to the inherent violent and divisive nature of Hindu fundamentalism that goes along with any Indian dominance. Wherever this ideology gains ground, internal tensions, communal violence and instability increase. India’s intention to impose this ideology pushes these countries further away and sometimes even into the arms of China. This opposition is not limited to Muslim-dominated countries such as Bangladesh, but comes even from ‘Hindu’ countries such as Nepal.

In addition, India has also stepped up its terrorist activities in recent years. Accusations of terrorism are used by the Indian regime to justify the use of precisely this instrument. “If any terrorist from a neighbouring country tries to disturb India or carry out terrorist activities here, he will be given a fitting reply. If he escapes to Pakistan we will go to Pakistan and kill him there”, Rajnath Singh, India’s defence minister said[5]. This policy resulted in 20 killings in Pakistan since 2020. This government assassinates more enemies beyond its own borders than any previous Indian government.

All these factors demonstrate the contradictions the imperialist policy of India is facing today. While it has every interest in regional stability, its attempt to impose the Hindutva ideology is itself a factor of instability in the region. Since India has boosted its state terrorist activities, the neighbouring countries’ suspicion of India’spolitical intentions has only increased

 The encirclement of India by China

In a 2012 article on the situation in South-East Asia we wrote that “India is faced on its western, northern, southern and eastern side and all along its shores by increased pressure from China. The Indian army is locked down in a permanent defence of its land borders”[6]. This is still true today: the main imperialist interests of India are not spread across the whole world, but are located in the South Asian region, close to its own borders. And there it confronts its principal enemies: Pakistan, and above all China, which has been developing a general offensive throughout the region.

Ten years ago, China started the New Silk Road project, alias Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One of its purposes was to lay the groundwork for what might one day serve as a network of military and naval bases, in particular on the western, northern, southern and eastern side of India. As part of this network China also began constructing a “String of Pearls” in the Indian Ocean, which would complete the encirclement of India. With this in mind, China has sought to build close ties with countries on India’s periphery, like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

The construction of the BRI, although severely hampered by the growing chaos in the world, expressing itself in the omnipresence of armed conflicts, has still made some advances in the past years, especially in Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. And this had its repercussions on the political situation in the region. In Nepal it has led to pro-China politicians being elected, and in Bangladesh to an anti-India government. In Sri Lanka (a participant in the BRI) and the Maldives the fight for influence is currently open; both China and India are still competing to gain the upper hand.

Over the years India’s primary focus has been the creation of a counter-weight to China, cultivating strategic ties with both the US and Russia, and maintaining, as well as it can, a grip on the regional geopolitical framework. But, because of its inferiority on the military, economic and technological levels, India’s response to the offensive of China has always been restrained. Only after the violent clashes with China at its border (in Galwan Valley in the Ladakh region), in 2020, did India reinforce its military presence by deploying an additional 40,000 troops, artillery, tanks, and aircraft to the border, and occupying strategic mountain passes. In 2021 and 2022 it succeeded in pushing back Chinese military intrusions. Nonetheless, China seems to have made some strategic advances in this region without provoking any further military confrontations with India.

China’s expansionist policy pushes India more and more into the arms of the U.S. Since 2017 it has been part of the Indo-Pacific Quad – a grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. – and a couple of years later also the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Strategy. These are two of the major examples of India’s response to the Chinese strategic offensive. Furthermore, it has announced that it will receive American support for upgrading its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies and logistics capabilities. A more recent development is the announcement of an operational deployment of the Indian Navy to the South China Sea, emphasising defence cooperation with countries like Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. The start of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing rapprochement between Russia and China only reinforced this closer cooperation with the U.S., without completely cutting ties with Russia, which remains an important trading partner for India, including the purchase of military equipment.

Recently tensions have increased in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, when China was ramping up its activities, thereby increasing the number of naval vessels conducting surveillance. Chinese “assertiveness” was answered by the Quad, which developed a multinational military exercise over three weeks in October 2024 in the Bay of Bengal, in order “to demonstrate to China the combined ability” of the four participating nations.

 India, the new world power?

In the period of decomposition, with its centrifugal tendencies and the incapacity of the leading powers to constitute real military blocs, secondary powers become more and more assertive in defending their own imperialist ambitions. And India wants to demonstrate that it is an economic and military power that needs to be taken into account. In Modi’s populist India, which projects the image of an emerging world power, the western imperialist nations find a useful counter-weight to the main threat in the East. These nations, and their media, boost this image of India as a world power and have a hand in building up its war economy faced with the expansionist policy of China.

This does not mean that India will ever become a world power like China. The rise of China to world power status is an exception, and due to specific circumstances, in particular the new conditions created by the collapse of the two military blocs that had existed since the end of the Second World War. The ensuing circumstances, the push towards opening up “new spheres for capital investment, including the exploitation of a huge new fund of labour power reared outside of directly capitalist social relations”[7], and which permitted the ‘miracle’ of China’s emergence as a second world power, no longer exist today.

It's true that there are still considerable areas of pre-capitalist economy in India, which under different circumstances could be capitalised to reinforce India’s economic growth, and there are many capitalists hungry to invest in this kind of development. As Bill Gates put it, “There is no better place to have an impact than India. That is why I believe India is a solid investment for anyone who cares about development”[8]. His Gates Foundation has thus invested over 1.3 billion dollars in India in recent decades, mainly under the heading of ‘philanthropy’ and improving the quality of health.

But the deepening of the world economic crisis, the acceleration and inter-action of all the crises of a decomposing world system – military, ecological, social – are constantly undermining the conditions for the kind of profitable economic development that India would require as a foundation of its great power ambitions. Thus, India will not be able to play a role equivalent to China's in the 1990s and 2000s. Furthermore, the existing superpowers will do all they can to prevent India from achieving a comparable status.  India will not abandon imperialist ambitions to conquer a bigger place in the international imperialist arena, but as we have seen these efforts will tend to rebound on India by exacerbating the chaos and conflict in its own ‘backyard’.

Resist the hymns of Hindu nationalism!

In the decadent period of capitalism, as Rosa Luxemburg explained in her Junius Pamphlet in 1915, all nations are imperialist and have no choice but to prepare for war and whip up patriotic sentiments. The bourgeoisie in India stirs up Hindu nationalism, a supremacist ideology, which prepares the population for the creation of a Greater India along the lines of the Holy Roman Empire, with New Delhi in the role of Rome and Modi as the Holy Father. This revanchist view of a Hindu nation can only mean the submission of the neighbouring countries to Indian expansionist whims, which means war.

Whether faced with open military confrontations or covert state terror, it is the population, in particular the working class, which will have to pay the price. If it is not by the massive destruction of human life and infrastructure then at least by the implementation of higher taxes and lower wages, and through the overall subjugation to the needs of the war economy and the militarisation of more and more sectors of society.

It is not possible to stop this ongoing war drive by pacifist demonstrations, or by exemplary actions like sabotaging military businesses and installations. Only the working class holds the key to blocking this tendency through the refusal to pay for the costs of the war economy and eventually through an open, collective struggle against capitalism itself. But this cannot be the task of the working class in India alone. It will demand a break with all forms of nationalist ideology and a recognition of the necessity for the unity of the struggle of the workers, not only in Asia but across the world.

Dennis, March 2025

 

[1] 'India never harboured expansionist mindset: Modi', Views Bangladesh 22 November 2024

[2] In Pakistan India supports at least two rebel groups, providing them with money, weapons, and training.

[3] ‘Indian nuclear weapons’, By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight; Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 5 September 2024

[4] Hindutva is an exclusivist and majoritarian form of domination, which intends to change India into a full-blooded Hindu state, with Hinduism as the state religion.

[6] ‘India – firmly in the grip of militarist cancer India’; International Review - Special Issue: Imperialism in the Far East, Past and Present, published 2012

Rubric: 

Imperialism