A confident India, an outdated Western lens
For much of the post-Cold War era, Western media have spoken about India in a familiar tone, part condescension, part instruction. India was portrayed as a country still “finding its way,” whose success depended on Western goodwill, guidance, or pressure. That framing no longer holds. Yet publications such as The Economist, The New York Times, and others persist in misreading not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the deeper transformation of India itself.
Recent commentary in The Economist suggesting that India’s reform momentum or economic resilience stems from political “humbling” or external pressure says more about entrenched Western bias than about Indian reality. Today’s India is neither insecure nor reactive. It is confident, pragmatic, and increasingly comfortable exercising strategic autonomy, even when that autonomy challenges Western expectations.
India’s sustained economic growth despite punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump should not surprise anyone paying attention. Under Mr Modi, India’s economic trajectory has never been contingent on American approval. Over the past decade, India has deliberately diversified trade partnerships, expanded domestic manufacturing, strengthened infrastructure, and reduced overdependence on any single external power.
This is the strategy of a new India, not improvisation in response to adversity, nor submission to pressure tactics disguised as trade policy.
Trade agreements and negotiations with Britain, the EU, New Zealand, Oman, and others are not reactive gestures. Nor is India’s calibrated engagement with China. These moves reflect a clear recognition that India must work with multiple powers while remaining beholden to none. Strategic autonomy is not rhetoric; it is policy, diplomatically and patiently executed.
Western media struggles with this posture because it disrupts a long-standing hierarchy: the assumption that India’s rise must be moderated, managed, or guided by the West. When India resists pressure, whether on trade, defence procurement, or geopolitical alignment, Western commentary often frames it as obstinacy rather than sovereignty.
Equally misplaced is the claim that coalition politics has weakened India’s economic agenda. In reality, coalition governance has reinforced execution over theatrics. Bankruptcy reform, labour-law rationalisation, tax simplification through GST, massive infrastructure investment, and the creation of world-class digital public goods are part of a decade-long reform arc. They were not born of electoral shock, but of institutional maturity.
Indian voters understand this. That is why Mr Modi’s leadership continues to be rewarded, not only in Parliamentary elections but in repeated regional mandates. The electorate supports his development agenda because they experience its outcomes: highways, ports, electrification, sanitation, welfare delivery, and digital inclusion at an unprecedented scale. They also value his refusal to submit to external pressure, particularly from the United States.
Foreign policy further exposes the gap between Western narratives and Indian reality. Mr Modi’s firm handling of Pakistan, careful signaling on national security, and outreach to friendly nations across the Global South, the Middle East, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific reflect a leader who understands how to balance leverage with restraint. India today engages globally not as a supplicant, but as a consequential power.
This confidence unsettles Western correspondents accustomed to a more compliant India. Many Economist writers, despite their polish, remain anchored in outdated frameworks—quick to moralize, slow to listen, and reluctant to acknowledge that India’s political maturity has outpaced their assumptions.
The truth is simple: India no longer seeks Western validation. It seeks respect. And respect is earned not through deference, but through consistency, competence, and clarity of national purpose.
Narendra Modi remains a consequential leader not because he bends under pressure, but because he governs with continuity and conviction. The real story is not India’s resilience under external stress—it is India’s emergence as an independent economic and strategic pole in a volatile world.
India has outgrown Western paternalism. The West must now catch up.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
Formerly, a researcher in Italy, Japan, and France, he has widely travelled and came to the US in 1978. He was a faculty and academic administrator in several different universities in PA, TX, NJ, MN, WI, and NY, and an Executive Fellow in the White House S&T Policy during the Clinton administration.
- TRUMP’s one year and U.S.–India trade relations - February 6, 2026
- Human dignity under attack: From the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh to the Minneapolis community living in fear - February 2, 2026
- Vande Mataram @ 150: Culture, constitution, and a confident India - January 27, 2026
