Can India be a Superpower?

CrimsonShark Disclaimer: I am a Pakistani. I just hope that this post doesn't get any controversial.

With the post above, what exactly are my thoughts of India? Well, it is definitely one of the world's best known countries and for a pretty good reason. It has a very rich history and culture, it has an increasing economy rate, it does have a good academic status, considering there are a lot of intelligent Indians out there and it has one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world (Although I'm not too fond of it). Not to mention I've met a lot of Indians around London and for the most part, we get along really well.

Now for the actual topic for this post: Can India really be a superpower?

My Answer: This does seem to be quite hard to explain, but I will do my best here....

India does have the potential to be a superpower. If you ask me, it has a better chance of becoming one than Pakistan (Although Pakistan isn't far off from being a candidate either). To start off, while not everyone is given the right of education (I can tell because India and Pakistan's education appear to be quite similar), what is given is very fulfilling and there are a good number of students with exceptional grades and have even got into top-rate universities. In addition, the Indian military is pretty solid and dedicated and their Intelligent Service MARCOS is among the best in the world. This country has a very big number of dedicated people and has a large entertainment business in the form of "Bollywood" which is surprisingly bigger than Hollywood (Although the latter seems to be more successful and accessible) and India has one of the most diverse cultures and remarkable history in the world. And lastly, India has a grip on nuclear power, which means they do possess some of the most catastrophic weapons in the world and are ready to use it, should war be imminent.

Now, there may be a lot of other positives to go through, but it'll probably take forever, so I'm gonna go list some reasons against.

To kick things off, India has a rather picky relationship with Pakistan since their independence in 1947. The two seem to be at odds with each other, especially over the province of Jammu and Kashmir, but that's a topic for another day. What I'm trying to imply is that India and Pakistan can be good friends (France and the UK had that enmity, but they've resolved it now and they're buddies). Partly what's to blame here is the Indian government, considering a lot of Indians are unfortunately indoctrinated to hate and accuse Pakistan. I'm not saying Pakistan's government isn't any good (I'll get to that sometime soon), but honestly, India's government is corrupt (To me, not much of a surprise. Modern politics just seem to be crap). Not everyone lives a normal life, but that's expected. What's actually the problem is India's population, considering that a massive number of people might not even have a job and be financially disabled. Not to mention the poverty rate is quite high as well and sadly, some places in India can be quite dirty.

What bothers me the most is how anti-Pakistani the Indian government is. From what I've heard India sometimes spends more money trying to take down and/or humiliate Pakistan than to actually help itself or its people. This is not a good sign and it does tell that the Indian government could be, at times, selfish and too prideful. Some of the people in India really need help and its not hard to see why. For a country that has a increasing rate of intellectuals ready to go abroad and hopefully improve India with their knowledge and experience, a very dedicated and powerful army and intelligent service and one of the few countries in the world to possess an atomic bomb, a corrupt government could actually minimize the chances of India being a superpower and its ongoing feud with Pakistan can potentially worsen foreign relationships with not just Pakistan, but also towards other Muslim countries and even other big-name powers like China and Russia could be extremely problematic for India to be respected as a world-power.

My last issue is a few things regarding Narendra Modi. I might know much about him, but I've heard he is very favorable towards the country and is actually bringing down terrorism and corruption, so props I think. However, I think he's a nationalist and some of his policies have not been very well received towards Indian Muslims and Sikhs. I just think that if Modi could work on improving Indian-Pakistani relationships and think of a way to appeal to the wider population (Includes the poor class and other religions), he could have a chance in improving India's reputation and a good way to get it into superpower status.

Conclusion: Can India really be a superpower? Well, it sort of depends. It does have the right amount of elements to attain that status, but it does have a lot of glaring issues and I think if those could be tweaked upon, India might have a shot in becoming a superpower. However, if these issues that I've listed above aren't taken care of, India could potentially become a bigger mess, and I don't think anyone wants that to happen.

(Disclaimer: For anyone reading this, don't take as anti-Indian. I'm just expressing my viewpoints and I did my best to make sure this post isn't hateful, I'm just trying to be as honest and respectful as I could. And if I offended anyone, I deeply apologize)

Thanks for reading :).

Comments

It does have a superpower: bots - 445956 (1/17/2018)

Modi has been mainly focusing on and talking about Economic growth-development (mainly in northeast India) and reduction of terrorism and corruption. He doesn't address equality among all people and stuff. He mostly ignores any conflicts within two or more groups within India. Over the course of his tenure, Modi has been gradually shifting towards mainstream moderation, that is, being just another normal government and is not really seen as a savior of the Indian economy anymore, but in my opinion that's just a sign of progress as given his situation, mainstream moderation would mean that things are kinda alright.(although the Indian bar of 'alright' is pretty damn low)

And the Kashmir thing is basically a huge mess. It's a headache to Pakistan, India, China and Kashmir itself.
India actually has a very few rights over Kashmir, Non-Kashmiri Indians cannot own land in Kashmir, non-Kashmiri Indians cannot set up factories there, and a whole lot of other restrictions. It has a lot of constitutional provisions that make Kashmir exempt to safety laws. In the Indian constitution, it is clearly stated that India is a secular country, with the exception of the Kashmir region, where the official religion is Islam.

In my opinion, India has the potential to be a superpower, but it will take a very long time, and the journey will be extremely tedious. Great post, CrimsonShark. - styLIShT (4/5/2018)