आत्मनिर्भर भारत & The Deal

US Senator Marco Rubio met India’s External Affairs Minister.

 

India agrees to a 500 billion USD import deal involving military equipment, technology, and agriculture.

 

We the people of India, were given a masterclass in economic patriotism.

We were told to save the rupee, stop buying imported goods, travel less abroad, use less petrol, work from home and the epic one don’t buy gold. 

 

But suddenly, importing half a trillion dollars from the US becomes “strategic diplomacy.”

 

For ordinary citizens orders are to boycott imports, but when it suits geopolitical image management imports has no limits ?

 

Or is this what modern colonialism looks like?

 

Back then, India was expected to follow terms dictated by the British Crown. Today, it increasingly feels as if national priorities are being shaped to satisfy Washington, as the orders have simply changed hands, from the Queen’s empire to Trump era’s pressure politics.

 

Trump must be very happy. For some countries, He has to fight wars or use pressure to control them. But for India, it feels like just a few favours and big deals are enough for our leaders to agree to everything.

 

On one side, common Indians are expected to sacrifice comfort, spending power, and aspirations in the name of nationalism.

On the other side, the government signs massive import agreements and celebrates them as achievements.

 

And it doesn’t stop there.

After Marco Rubio, the Venezuelan head of state is reportedly next in line to visit India, with discussions around crude oil imports.

 

So what exactly is the policy here?

 

Indian oil already takes weeks to arrive from suppliers like Iran, through strait of Hormuz, with insurance and shipping costs making it even more expensive. Meanwhile, oil from nearby countries could arrive much faster and cheaper. Yet economics now seems secondary from political lens.

 

Not to forget, following Trump’s instruction, we have stopped buying oil from Russia and Iran

 

The bigger question here is,
Who is this foreign policy really serving?

 

Because right now, it looks less like economic nationalism and more like desperate international networking while ordinary Indians are asked to tighten their belts.

 

People are not blind.

They can see the contradiction between speeches about आत्मनिर्भर (self-reliance) and the reality of massive dependency deals.

 

And naturally, many will ask whether all this sudden diplomatic enthusiasm has anything to do with protecting powerful corporate allies facing scrutiny and legal trouble abroad or it’s the ghost of Epstein files hounds him ?