Independent India turns 70 on Tuesday. It is an ancient civilization and a youthful republic. India has more global clout now than it did at 50, the result of its hefty economy and palpable new self-belief. Once pious and retiring, India has become forceful and outgoing—hungrily acquisitive of assets, opportunities, even new alliances (Hello, Washington!). The country is unrecognizable from the one that the war-worn British left on Aug. 15, 1947.
Pragmatism has replaced sanctimony as the guiding principle of Indian foreign policy. But the new Indian ambition still has a strident and unlovely side. It is fair to say that the forces of nationalism, which have allowed India to count on the world stage, also sowed great discord at home. India has never been more internally divided than it is now, and the country seems to be on the edge of turmoil.
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