Ukraine’s “Hinduphobic” Cartoon on Goddess Kali Triggers Outrage | Vantage with Palki Sharma

so that's the news from the front line

more attacks more deaths but

diplomatically where are things at

president zielinski's charm offensive

has worked in the west Europe and North

America are firmly behind him but here

in India there are few takers

you know the reason for that Russia is a

long-standing partner of New Delhi so

picking sides is out of the question

having said that Ukraine's actions have

not held their cause

let me tell you what happened on Sunday

Ukraine's defense Ministry posted this

picture on social media it's a cartoon

of the Hindu goddess Kali it shows the

goddess in Marilyn Monroe's famous pose

you can guess what happened next Indian

users on social media were outraged they

called it demeaning insulting and Hindu

phobic all true but in a pure political

sense do you know what it was

unnecessary

five minutes of research would have

prevented this controversy in fact

forget research Common Sense would have

prevented it the Ukrainian government is

now in damage control their Deputy

foreign minister issued a clarification

and this is what she said I'm quoting we

regret the Ukrainian defense Ministries

tweet depicting Hindu goddess Kali in a

distorted manner

Ukraine and its people respect the

unique Indian culture and highly

appreciate India's support

too little too late

and I'm not talking about this cartoon

Fiasco I'm talking about Ukraine's

overall India policy for three decades

it was an autopilot Kiev never bothered

to cultivate good ties with India but

once Russia invaded realization Dawn

Ukraine needed India's support to

isolate Russia but that's not how

geopolitics Works bilateral relations

require years of focus and investment

neither

think back to 1998 when India tested

nuclear weapons in Pokemon Ukraine

criticized it

just to be clear Ukraine was not the

only one the U.S was new delhi's biggest

critic back then yet look at where India

U.S relations are today

miles ahead of India Ukraine relations

that's the investment and focus I was

talking about

same with their support to Pakistan

Ukraine has been selling weapons to

Islamabad for three decades total

shipments more than 1.6 billion dollars

Reports say Pakistan is repaying the

favor the reports of rockets tanks and

ammunition being sent to Ukraine

unconfirmed but important reports would

this defense partnership have unsettled

India

yes but again Ukraine wasn't alone

Pakistan's Arsenal is filled with

Western weapons so I come back to my

first assessment what Ukraine did to

India the West has also done criticized

the nuclear tests criticize the Kashmir

policy and sold weapons to Pakistan yet

India has excellent relations with the

West what does that tell you

that Western countries made efforts to

reshape their ties with India Ukraine

never did

they could never offer India anything

strategic neither powerful weapons nor

political support on Kashmir nor in

expanding people-to-people Exchange

and guess who did

Russia did they criticized the nuclear

test in 1998 too but they never joined

the sanctions in 2019 when Kashmir

statehood was revoked Russia did not

meddle they called it India's internal

matter the fact is Ukraine's past is

haunting its relations with India in the

present

I'll give an example of it last month

Kiev sent its Deputy foreign minister to

India the same Minister who apologized

for the cartoon she got two books from

India's minister of State for external

Affairs guess what they were about the

history of Kashmir

coincidence well there's no such thing

in diplomacy which brings us to the

present day would things have been

different if your crane had invested

more in this relationship if that stayed

clear of Pakistan or if they backed

India on Kashmir

we can't say for sure but zielinski may

have had more of new delhi's attention

maybe through more raid or through peace

negotiations or maybe through the

current G20 presidency remember Ukraine

is not part of the G20 but Kiev wants

New Delhi to invite zielinski to address

virtually

so far the government of India has been

non-committal

in conclusion let me say this India's

position on the war is less about

Ukraine and more about Russia and there

is no disputing that

but that doesn't give Kiev a free pass

their actions or the lack of it have not

held their cause this offensive cartoon

is the latest example it reflects a lack

of understanding about Indian sentiments

and feelings

and this is the result of years of

policy neglect