Ramachandra Guha, the renowned Indian historian and author (India after Gandhi),asserts there are ten reasons why India, despite its enormous economic growth, will not become a superpower.
Guha focuses mainly on the internal problems of the ‘unique political experiment’ India. The ten reasons are:
1. Rise of left-wing insurgency in Central and Eastern India (a brutal civil war between the Maoists and the gvernment).
2. Rise of right-wing religious fundamentalism (BJP/RSS).
3. Decline and corruption of the democratic center (particularly the conversion of political parties into family firms).
4. Degradation of public institutions (such as universities, law courts, hospitals, civil services).
5. Growing (spectacular) gap between the rich and the poor.
6. Rapid pace of environmental degradation (air pollution, dead rivers, depletion of groundwater aquifers, disposal of toxic and nuclear waste, etc.).
7. Superficiality of the mainstream media (or “the Indian media’s complicit worship of wealth, celebrity and super-stardom”) and abandonment of commitment to serious environmental reportage.
8. Political fragmentation and the instability engendered by multiparty coalition governments.
9. Unreconciled borderlands (Kashmir, Nagaland and Manipur).
10. Unstable neighborhood (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka).
Conclusion: In the words of Guha: “There are too many fault lines in our society to be a superpower. As a historian I say: ‘we are not prepared’, as an Indian citizen I say: ‘we should not even attempt to’. India should adhere to its constitutional ideals, fight national fires, and heal and harmonize.
“Ten reasons why India will not and must not become a superpower”
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