Indians gone nuts…and it is not only me who is saying that..let me copy an excrept from the following article published in an indian newspaper:
“it is important to also state that we should not take our stand of self-confident assertion to the point of illogicality. It’s one thing for the country to stand on its own feet, it’s quite another for it to embrace a ‘Fortress India’ mindset. For instance, no great harm would have been done to India’s image in the world if UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s visit to the tsunami-affected regi-ons of Tamil Nadu had been facilitated.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=62494&headline=India’s~no~to~Kofi
No to Kofi
It’s one thing for India to stand on its own feet, quite another to turn into a fortress
India’s stance that it has the requisite capacities and resources to deal with immediate relief, post-tsunami, has caused widespread international consternation. It somehow went against the grain, the stereotype, the common sense. How dare a country like India, with its “starving millions”, climb on to the high horse at a time like this — that at least seemed to mark the general tenor of the global response. India has since clarified that, one, it is in principle not opposed to accepting assistance during the second and more capital-intensive phase of reconstruction and that, two, it has no objection to international resources coming in through NGOs working in the field. India has also demonstrated its considerable ability to respond promptly and effectively to a crisis of this magnitude, both within its territory and in the neighbourhood.
But having noted this, it is important to also state that we should not take our stand of self-confident assertion to the point of illogicality. It’s one thing for the country to stand on its own feet, it’s quite another for it to embrace a ‘Fortress India’ mindset. For instance, no great harm would have been done to India’s image in the world if UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s visit to the tsunami-affected regi-ons of T"amil Nadu had been facilitated. India could have chosen to have read this visit as a gesture of the world’s concern and left it at that. By virtually shutting the door on him, we have demonstrated not just indifferent diplomacy but a misplaced hypersensitivity at a time when the world is keenly observing us.
National self-confidence has several aspects to it. It makes for autonomy of thought, policy and action and it also makes for less insecurity. A self-confident India does not need to immure itself against the world or resort to a carapace, neither does it have to wear its sensitivities on its sleeve. Indeed, if the tsunami had one lesson for the world it was about the dividends of international cooperation, in terms of information, resources and best practices. In this globalised world, no country can afford to be an island.