Putin praise vindicates PM’s Make-in-India thrust

The greatest achievements of the G20 Summit under India’s presidency were the inclusion of the African Union and the unanimous declaration that is welcomed by both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin – though to the great displeasure of the US and the West. The question now is where India stands in the Sino-US rivalry that dominates global politics.

President Vladimir Putin has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and said Russia can emulate the success stories of India such as for promoting the growth of domestic industries. He was all in praise for the ‘Make in India’ (maybe now it will be called Make in Bharat) campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He appeared to be so happy that he said Russia would emulate it. Certainly, a big complement, particularly, when team I.N.D.I.A has been making fun of it. Putin while calling it as an initiative based on four pillars, which give a boost to entrepreneurship in India, said, “They are focused on the manufacture and use of Indian-made vehicles. I think that Prime Minister Modi is doing the right thing in promoting the Make in India programme.”

Putin was very clear when he said there was nothing wrong in using local made automobiles and they must be used and that it would not lead to any infringements of WTO obligations. He clearly admitted that till 1990s Russia did not have its own home-made cars. He sounded convinced that such concepts in no way affect the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ (IMEC) and would in no way impinge on Russia – in fact, it will benefit that country. The IMEC was launched during the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Putin made these remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the Plenary session of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a major port city in sanctions-hit Russia’s Far East region.

Well to that extent it is fine. But what Putin said in response to a question about if the IMEC initiative will affect the implementation of Russian and Chinese projects and what it means for Russia in general sounds interesting. He said, “First, this project (IMEC) has been discussed for a long time, maybe for the past several years. Truth be told, the Americans joined it at the last minute. But I do not really see why they would want to be part of it, except maybe in terms of some business interest.” Enemies are enemies wherever they may be no matter what the situation, it seems.