Myanmar like India was a colony of the British, they became independent just 5 months after Indian Independence and established a Parliament with two houses. There were elections in 1951, 1956 and 1960 but in 1962 the elected Government was overthrown by a coup and Military rule was established.
Since then, the people of Myanmar have several times got on-road and protested for Democracy and reforms in the state. These protests were mostly led by Aung San Suu Ki. She has been a central figure in the protests and struggles for Democracy.
In 2020 November, Myanmar conducted elections in which National League for Democracy(NLD) led by Aung San Suu Ki won 346 seats which is more than enough to form a Government that requires only 322 seats. But this elected party was barred from forming Government on the morning of February 1st by Myanmar Military and declared Election results invalid.
This again broke protests in whole Myanmar against Military rule.
Narendra Modi with Aung San Suu Ki
With this Military coup in Myanmar in 2021, India’s North-Eastern Part has become sensitive again with the potential of refugees taking shelter in India. The Government of India has ordered to seal borders with Myanmar and deport the refugees.
The Indian Government also strangely silent about the coup. This became worse when last week India attended a military parade in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw on March 27 to mark Tatmadaw Day. Myanmar’s military is called Tatmadaw. The other countries to attend the Tatmadaw’s annual parade were China, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
Even the Civil Disobedience Movement bluntly asked: Why did India “shake hands with the generals whose hands are soaked with our blood?” This is an important and urgent question.
But the larger question is why is the Indian Government doing this?
The answer is very clear, the Indian Government has now vested interests with Myanmar. Since last year, our relations with neighbouring countries like Nepal has deteriorated due to China influence. The Indian Government don’t want to lose Myanmar also to China by supporting Democracy like Western Countries USA, France and UK.
Myanmar is the country that connects India to ASEAN countries and it is also a part of our grand strategy of connecting India’s North Eastern corridor to South-East Asian countries. India has invested some Billions of Rupees and obviously, we don’t want to waste them.
Now What should be India’s stand-in Myanmar issue?
In the long run, we have our own interests with Myanmar and we also don’t want to lose one more country to China’s influence. But as of now, India should definitely come forward and talk with Myanmar Military and ask them to stop brutality on their own citizens. India should also not hand over refugees to the army. I want to end this article with Einstein’s quote “The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of the good people”.
