With Barack Obama’s recent remarks characterizing Russia as a “regional power” and the strategic rebalance directed at Asia, it should come as no surprise the next moves must involve India.

Often called the world’s largest democracy, this growing nation faces threats from all sides. 

Fortunately, U.S. policy makers and their South Asian counterparts are becoming increasingly aware of the acute threat of regional dominance posed by China and India’s role as a necessary counterbalance.

However, it has been reported by Defense News that India will need to increase its defense spending by 30 percent over the next 10 years to close the gap between itself and China. In the last year, India’s military budget only increased by 10 percent. 

At a time when this democracy is growing at less than five percent per year, hoping to increase expenditures by such a large margin is wishful thinking.

On the other hand, the discrepancy between India’s actual military budget and that which has been proposed to catch China has not stopped it from preparing for the worst.  

A new Mountain Corps unit, consisting of 80,000 troops, will be operational on the Chinese border within the next seven years at the cost of $10 billion, according to Defense News.

With these two powers competing both regionally and internationally, the United States needs to encourage a moderate India and develop greater military and trade ties with this cultural wonder.  

By keeping a strong presence in the region, the U.S. will be further capable of influencing Chinese policy.

Before India can even begin thinking of exerting its own power in the region, however, it needs to quell domestic dissent.  

With national elections underway, the India that is rising is not the same India that would help serve U.S. interests.

Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, is currently predicted to win the prime minister (PM) position, according to Reuters. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expects to dethrone the current ruling elite in Congress.  

This poses a problem for the U.S. because his increasingly vitriolic rhetoric threatens to embattle the region before India can realistically compete with its neighbors.

For example, Modi’s party has released a manifesto calling for a revisit to the nation’s “no first use” nuclear strike policy—thankfully, the PM candidate calmed the controversy with his remarks that the current policy would remain.  

On Kashmir, an area contested with Pakistan and holding a population of almost 13 million, Modi has not been so conciliatory. 

He has stated before that the provision allowing for greater Kashmir autonomy must be abrogated, and India must assert its territorial integrity.  

This sort of behavior is exactly the type of instigation capable of igniting the fourth conflict in 70 years with Pakistan directly related to Kashmir.  

Modi has accused the incumbent Congress of being soft on Pakistan in regards to the region, which does not bode well for those looking to avoid war.

Furthermore, in-party fighting has threatened to polarize voters, as the head of the BJP said those who did not support Modi would find a new home in their Muslim-majority neighbor Pakistan, who has since blocked the BJP website.

It would be better for India to remain dormant and encourage domestic growth and unity, neither of which can be accomplished with militant policies directed at Kashmir.  

Rather, it would behoove both the U.S. and India to form closer military ties in the face of unhelpful and dangerous neighbors.

Pakistan, a nation that has been accused of both knowing the whereabouts and hiding of Osama bin Laden, is currently dwarfed by India in military expenditure, but it has been seeking closer ties with China in recent years in order to intimidate the democratic giant trapped between them.

In response, India has bolstered its own military and foreign relations, conducting multiple training exercises and purchasing defensive equipment in large quantities. 

It upset China in 2007 by hosting multilateral exercise missions in the Bay of Bengal with the U.S., Japan, Australia and Singapore, and it continues to hold drills with ASEAN counterparts in defiance to Chinese concerns.

These exercises have been of increasing concern to China, who called the latest proposed defensive naval maneuvers between the U.S., Japan and India a military alliance against Beijing.

The U.S. should offer trade incentives when needed to encourage more moderate policies that would draw in the rest of Asia toward India, rather than China.  

By standing with the world’s largest democracy, we can contain aggressive posturing from China and promote American ideals in Asia through India.  

Whether or not this will be a possibility under Modi is the question Washington needs to address.  

– Bryan Allen is a junior political science major from Puyallup. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.