PM Modi with US president Joes Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, January 26: At a time when the US and Russia are locked in the Ukraine War, Kremlin and White House have sent contrasting messages to India as the people celebrate the Republic Day. French President Emmanuel Macron is the Chief Guest at the Republic Day this year.
Russian embassy in India enacted a film song from the Hindi film Gadar. The embassy officials danced to the tune of the song with Bollywood and Russian dance steps. The Russian embassy picked up the war movie Gadar to send out a subtle message to India as New Delhi works out a fine balance in its strategic relations amid war mongering in the foreign capitals.
The US embassy in India also came out with a dance and song message to commemorate the Republic Day celebrations. The American embassy picked the A. R. Rehman sung ‘Maan Tujhe Salaam’ to join the people in India amidst the patriotic fervour.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine War, India has pursued independent foreign policy. India stepped up imports of oil and coal from Russia despite the apparent displeasure of the western world. Also, India has deepened strategic relations with the US as several defence pacts have been signed with Washington in the last two years which includes the likes of the repair and maintenance works of the American naval ships in Indian dockyards.
The Russian embassy set the Republic Day celebrations to the war movie Gadar, which was an adaptation of the 1965 war with Pakistan. India had won the 1965 war with the help of the Russian fighter jets. Russia has been a trusted partner of India in all the wars. Even while the US had sought to intimidate India in the 1971 War in Bangladesh, the presence of Russia on the Indian side had deterred Washington from making any misadventure.
In contrast, the US embassy in India set the Republic Day celebrations on the Rehman song with peace theme by spotlighting pigeons in the ‘Rangoli’ done by the embassy officials. The US media had spotlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exhortation to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “this is not an era of war”. Modi had urged upon Putin to work out differences with Ukraine diplomatically.
It may be recalled that India had first sought to invite the US President Joe Biden as the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations. But Biden could not accept the invitation as he is locked in a bitter election battle with the likely Republican nominee Donald Trump. French President came as a replacement in an assertion that France is India’s key partner for the defence modernization.
Indian film songs and dances have become popular with the embassies in New Delhi. German and South Korean embassies had appealed to the popular fervor in the past by staging the ‘Natu Natu’ song. The US ambassador Eric Garcetti and Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki frequently post their videos relishing Indian cuisine in different parts of the country.
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