|
British and French support Security Council seat for India |
 |
Harjit Singh
Though the expansion of the UN Security Council has taken a back seat after the failed attempts of India and the other claimants such as Brazil, Japan and Germany, who jointly fought for permanent seats without success, the support to India’s claim by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will come as a big boost as and when the issue is taken up again.
During their visits to India between January 20 and 26, the European leaders not only vigorously supported the Indian case for a permanent seat, but went a step further, calling for reforming the other international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF and India being inducted into the Group of 8, an exclusive club of the developed industrialized countries. While the British Prime Minister was more emphatic for India and the other developing countries finding a voice on the World Bank and IMF, Sarkozy took up the case of opening up G-8 to other emerging economies such as China and India.
The British Prime Minister could not have been more categorical when he said, “India is the world’s largest democracy and one of the fastest growing economies of the world…and India should get its rightful place.” “I support changes to the World Bank, the IMF and G-8 that reflect the rise of India and Asia”, he said at a breakfast meting with Indian and British industry leaders in New Delhi . The post-war rules of the game and the post-war international institutions, fit for the Cold War and a world of just 50 states, must be radically reformed to fit our world of globalisation, he said.
As if not to be left behind, Sarkozy, who arrived within days of the British Prime Minister leaving the Indian shores, also insisted on India getting its rightful place at the global high table. He promised ardent French support for India not only for a UN Security Council seat but also for inclusion in an expanded G-8. He unequivocally admitted that the current composition of the UN Security Council reflected a 20th century World War II mindset and said that the Council be expanded to include India which has had an unimpeachable track record on proliferation. Echoing British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sarkozy wondered, “How can we organize a meeting of G-8 for two and a half days and invite the G-6 for lunch on Day 3?” France, he said, will not accept this injustice. The coming G-8 in Tokyo, he said, can immediately be turned into G-13.
India had found itself arrayed against the United States when the expansion of the UN Security Council was taken in hand during the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s tenure. US was ready to support the case of Japan, and possibly Germany. China never backed India perhaps at the behest of Pakistan and also not wanting an Asian rival to sit with it on the same table. Eventually, the African Union came up with its own list of aspirants and India and the other G-4 countries [Japan, Brazil and Germany] failed to persuade the African Union not to make undue demands though it was amenable to representation of the African continent possibly through South Africa. Some Indian officials were hopeful that if the US is to choose only one of the developing countries for its support, the odds were in favour of its being India.
Washington has conceded that the criteria for permanent membership which will be population, contribution to the UN peace keeping operations, democratic credentials and economic status make India a fit case for permanent membership of the Security Council. “These benchmarks will make India the obvious contender for the UN Security Council”, said a senior Indian official. But, India ultimately failed to secure American support. But, now that the two close G-8 allies have come out with an open, categorical and unequivocal support of India’s case, it is quite possible that the US will have second thoughts on opposing India when the issue is taken in hand again. If not the Bush Administration, India can bank on the next administration after the US Presidential elections. Significant leverage would be added to its claim if the Indo-US nuclear agreement gets operationalised by then. This is, however, subject to the Left abandoning opposition to the move, of which there is no sign at present.
|
