The battle between India and the West is about to start

In last years relations between India and the West began to get better than ever. India became an important player on the diplomatic and politic stage but also in military cooperation, especially with the United States. But the more India looks for it's own establishment as an great power, the more the West becomes hostile towards New Delhi.

2024 will be an exciting year worldwide, considering in which countries the current rulers have to fear for their re-election. The "to go" list is long and includes the US and the UK. On the other side of the geopolitical fronts, in the non-West, on the other hand, everything seemed stable so far. As far as India is concerned, until recently everyone was sure that Narendra Modi's party (Bharatiya Janata Party) would win the third election in a row. The prime minister's personal poll ratings have recently been close to the 75 percent mark, and his party is also more popular than ever before.

India is currently the fastest growing economy in the world, its influence is growing and the 21st century is already being called the "century of the Big Three" – China, USA and India. A new reality that is not to everyone's liking.

India knows how to play both sides and prime minister Modi certainly how to ensure you don't count on the wrong card. Under his leadership India has seen closer economic ties with China and Russia in the so-called BRICS alliance and at the other hand close military cooperation with the West. And India is profiting heavily from both sides.

However India also holds still a lot of conflicts with both sides. The endless conflict in the Himalaya over several border changes with China and Pakistan are one problem for India. The growing concern in Western nations towards India a bigger one.

Most recent example are the harsh accusations from Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, who accused India to been involved in the killing of an Sikh-Freedom fighter this summer in Ontario. India refuses those claims but at the same time states that the Sikh movement is an terrorist movement in the view of New Dehli.

There is an Indian diaspora of several million people around the world, and the West is essentially concerned with the question of how (using the example of Canada) these compatriots can be made to quarrel among themselves, and how this dispute can spill over into the country itself. Provoking conflicts inside India between the many different cultural and religious groups would be an welcoming situation for the West.

Another part of this story. Some tax office in New York has accused the Adani Corporation, an important group of companies in today's India, of fraud. To make it clearer for some: to create the assumption that under Modi India cannot deal with the growing economy and the speed of it's rise.

India on the other side has answered harsh and banned visas from Canada and earlier this year banned an BBC documentary, which according to government potrayed an false image of Prime Minister Modi.

At one hand India serves as balancing power against China, checkmating it in Southern Asia and dueling over economic supremacy with Beijing. But for this to work effectively, India has to be restricted to an certain level. In other words India cannot become an serious opponent of the USA in the Indian Ocean and on the economic stage.

On it's way to become an great power India has to decide whether to trust the West and be actively sabotaged or to go with other nations like China or Russia but stay potentially in the shadow of Beijing. Or to go another independent way. It certainly will be interesting to see how New Dehli will deal with the problems on the way to becoming an great power.