ARROGANCE is an undesirable trait in individuals, and when an arrogant individual also obtains a modicum of power, at least relative to the people surrounding him, then that potent mix can and does go to his head. Relationships suffer, self-awareness diminishes and the person in question simply cannot mend his ways because there’s no recognition of the problem to begin with; feedback from well-wishers (those few who remain) is disregarded or written off as jealousy. Protests from those at the receiving end are taken as validation of one’s own power, further fuelling a sense of superiority. You end up creating alliances against yourself as those who are at the receiving end of your abuse will tend to band together and ally themselves with someone too powerful for you to bully.

So inflated does the sense of self become that when reality breaks through the bubble of delusion, the result is despair, denial and, often, a doubling down on the same delusions that led you to this pass. In that sense, arrogance carries within it the seeds of your own downfall.

Now, when a nation’s entire domestic narrative and foreign policy is based on arrogance — strategic arrogance if you will — the cost isn’t borne just by that one nation and its citizens, but by every other nation subject to its whims and neuroses.

Such is what seems to have happened with India, which shone so brightly that it blinded itself. In some ways, this was inevitable; building on the solid foundations laid by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and many others, India’s economy soared and so did its global standing. America’s China containment policy then elevated it to the level of a strategic partner of the West. This coincided more or less with the rise of Hindutva in India, which framed these developments as a much belated return to long-lost glory. Domestically, the narrative was the curious mix of supremacy and victimhood that defines modern fascism: the internal enemy is simultaneously weak and degenerate and also an existential threat to the majority which, in turn, is at once strong and superior but also imperilled.

India shone so brightly that it blinded itself.

This line was amplified to an unbelievable degree by Indian social media and also mainstream media which has fed its teeming population with a steady diet of hate and misinformation. Cynical as it may sound, while it’s perhaps understandable to feed your own population this diet in order to secure political gains and votes, it’s quite another matter for your own leadership to actually buy into it, as they so clearly have. In doing so, India violated the cardinal rule of drug peddlers: never get high on your own supply.

Consider that in the new Indian parliament hangs a map of Akhand Bharat, or Greater India if you prefer, showing Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and so on as part of a giant mythical Hindu empire. Now consider that this isn’t bravado, but a statement of intent. The action, for its part, can be seen in the relentlessly bullying behaviour India has exhibited in its relations with all the aforementioned countries, including the Maldives and Sri Lanka. That attitude was then extended to Canada, to name just one, in the aftermath of an Indian-run assassination campaign that was conducted in such an arrogantly amateurish way that the bloody footprints clearly led back to New Delhi.

To fulfil this dream, India decided to take on Pakistan which, in its view, was internally divided, economically weak and internationally isolated. A decisive military push and India would have a victory for the ages, it thought. But nothing of the sort happened; prepared and armed with Chinese technology which had been seamlessly integrated into its own military networks, Pakistan not only shot down India’s jets but also India’s great power pretensions.

In a wonderful example of the law of unintended consequences, India has in fact injected Pakistan with a renewed sense of self-confidence, even if the aforementioned weaknesses still very much exist. But while it was certainly unintended, it should have been expected; while Pakistan’s alliance with China is decades old, India is to thank for taking it to new levels. In part due to Indian lobbying, Pakistan was denied easy and reliable access to US and Western weaponry and the outcome was that Pakistan opted to go down the Chinese arms route, with visible results.

To his credit, Rahul Gandhi warned of exactly this in his 2022 Lok Sabha speech in which he accused the Indian government of actually bringing Pakistan and China closer together. In 2025, we can now add Bangladesh to the list. Interestingly social media has become a loss multiplier for India in the global arena, as out-of-control hordes are now attacking Azerbaijan and Turkiye for their support for Pakistan, further souring India’s image, just as they did with regional countries.

The writer is a journalist.

X*: @zarrarkhuhro*

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2025