In Delhi’s bustling teahouses, politics in Europe is usually not the topic of conversation. On the other hand, there are constant reports of the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices and pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to denounce Russia. Shopkeeper Ram Agarwal grew up in the late 1950s when his country and the Soviet Union were such close allies that Nikita Khrushchev coined the slogan “Hindi rusi bhai bhai” (Indians and Russians are brothers). “I am 74 years old and my generation grew up listening to ‘Hindi rusi bhai bhai’. If I were to fight Russia now, it would be like attacking an old friend.” Arvind Maurya, an electrician, emphasized off

In Delhi’s bustling teahouses, politics in Europe is usually not the topic of conversation. On the other hand, there are constant reports of the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices and pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to denounce Russia. Shopkeeper Ram Agarwal grew up in the late 1950s when his country and the Soviet Union were such close allies that Nikita Khrushchev coined the slogan “Hindi rusi bhai bhai” (Indians and Russians are brothers). “I am 74 years old and my generation grew up listening to ‘Hindi rusi bhai bhai’. If I were to fight Russia now, it would be like attacking an old friend.” Arvind Maurya, an electrician, stressed the balance of the public’s reaction to the war. “I heard that Ukraine used to be part of Russia, but instead of respecting it, NATO pulled Ukraine into its orbit.” Of course, bombing civilians is not the way to resolve differences.

Off the road, feelings are stronger. Indians on the right and left seem unified when it comes to war, first because of their aversion to Western culture, the latter because of deep anti-Americanism. For both camps, the struggle over Ukraine has exposed what they call “Western hypocrisy.” In a column for several newspapers, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, compared Western Iraq sanctions before the 2003 US invasion that “killed hundreds of thousands of children” with outrage in Ukraine. “Compare the outrage over the bombs that fell there that caused many of the deaths caused by US strikes in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.”

People often come across the idea that Ukraine and NATO are provoking Russia until they have no choice but to attack. This view is prominent in television talk shows, especially by retired military personnel. Former Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia said NATO promised Soviet leadership and then President Vladimir Putin not to expand to the east. “The West is as responsible as Putin for this completely avoidable and unnecessary war,” Bhatia said. It is also highly questionable for European countries to continue buying Russian natural gas while expecting India to impose sanctions on Russia. “Why should we pay for the folly of the US in dragging Ukraine into NATO? Sanctions hurt us and should we support them?” asked the former Foreign Minister Kanwal Sibal in Indian Time.

Given the prevailing atmosphere, the pressure on Premier Modi is light at home. Although some editorials have called its position “tragic” and “unsustainable” in not condemning Russia at the UN for trying to appease the West by calling for a ceasefire. A balancing act in which US President Joe Biden could lose his temper. A few days ago he described Modi’s attitude as “sensitive”. But that did not prevent Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar from negotiating with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Delhi in early April.

India’s real opponents: China

Urging India to join the West and condemning Russia could trigger angry reactions. Strategy analyst Brahma Chellaney asked why India should do this when no one – let alone the US – is taking action against “Chinese aggression” on India’s borders, which has been in a stalemate for the past two years. “At a time when we are faced with Chinese coercion, including threats of war, Biden is not speaking out,” Chellaney tweeted. “But he called India’s reaction to long-range warfare, which he helped provoke, ‘sensitive’.”

Statements like these explain why Indian commentators are reluctant to punish Putin and Russia as crimes par excellence. Despite the fact that such a stigma would be unpopular among the Indian population, who see greater danger in China. Columnist Parsa Venkateshwar Rao is disappointed that “the US turned Putin into Saddam Hussein, leaving no room for negotiations. US rhetoric is very disturbing. Unlike Saddam Hussein, who did not have weapons of mass destruction, Putin did. The whole behavior borders on hysteria.”

Influential commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta agrees with this criticism, but denouncing Western double standards is not enough for him. That doesn’t answer the big question of what world order you want. in Indian Express he wrote: “USA, so hypocritical that they lost their capital outside the West; Europe that continues to speak with a forked tongue; Russia who prefers to see the world and its citizens suffer; India and China are using Western hypocrisy as a cover for blatant cynicism – this does not bode well for the world order.”