West Asia conflict result of larger game at play: Chandigah MP Manish Tewari

Member of Parliament from Chandigarh and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari today said that the ongoing West Asia conflict was a result of larger game at play, of which unfortunately Iran was mere collateral damage.

He said a pattern would emerge if one were to go beyond the headlines that pointed towards the continuation of US resource domination and to ensure that the dollar remained the reserve currency of the world. Tewari was speaking at the launch of his book “A World Adrift” in Chandigarh. It was organised by the Punjab Lit Foundation headed by author Khushwant Singh.

Conversing with former Punjab Chief Secretary about his book, Tewari said, “India’s time in the world will come, but in another two and a half decades. India will sail through, but it’s important to remain alert and sharp. We need to feel the stones beneath our feet and walk carefully. We also need to shed delusions of grandeur because these only delude us and no one else. We need to maintain our strategic strengths carved over decades.”

Talking about the possible role India needs to play in the ongoing conflict, Tewari said, “When things are in motion around you, it is better to stand still.”

Talking about India’s relationship with neighbours, he said, “We need to walk the extra mile, failing which India’s neighbours will bend towards China, something which is already happening.” He added India needed to constructively engage more with Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh.

On the question of how river water claims will be played out in the future, he said, “Going by the manner in which China is building huge dams over the Brahmaputra, India’s riparian right will be held hostage to China. We have been trying some water coercion to Pakistan and the same can happen to us,” he said.

Tewari added that the border dispute between India and China was a constant stresser. “China has resolved the majority of its land dispute with its neighbours, but chooses not to resolve it with India. This is because China and India are two rising South Asian powers and it serves China to keep us under pressure,” he said.

On India’s relations with Russia, Tewari said “Now all that remains is a cut and dry relationship in defence. Our economic relationship has drifted towards Europe and the USA, which leaves us traversing a dichotomous divergent unbridgeable valley,” said Tewari.