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Review: Australia’s Pivot to India – Andrew Charlton (Black Inc.)
The structure of Andrew Charlton’s
Australia’s Pivot to India is built on
three promises: the promise of India; the promise of the Australia-India
relationship; and the promise of the Indian diaspora becoming a powerful
mainstream force in Australian politics.
At a time when the Indian diaspora is attracting attention globally, this book
– launched on Wednesday by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – will be read, and
read widely.
Unfortunately, the successes of the diaspora have been temporarily overshadowed
by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s accusation that Indian
government agents were involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in
Vancouver. Nijjar was an advocate for a separate Khalistan Sikh state and the
government of India believed he was involved in terrorist activities. India has
categorically denied Trudeau’s charge.
Written for a discerning but popular audience,
Australia’s Pivot to India is
an elegant volume that treads ground familiar to those who have followed the
bilateral relationship. The book serves as a primer and a political manifesto
embedded in Charlton’s weltanschauung. It is written with finesse and fluency,
but hurriedly: there is at least one sentence borrowed from my writings, used
without attribution.
Charlton, the federal member for Parramatta and a rising star of the Australian
Labor Party, is a believer. He is persuaded by India’s contemporary success and
advocates the need for even greater intimacy between New Delhi and Canberra.
For him, India’s rise is almost inevitable. As he puts it:
For all its twists and turns, India’s journey has brought it to a point of
extraordinary promise. Just as the twentieth century was said to be the
American Century, and the nineteenth century was the Age of Empire, we may
well end the twenty-first century with India on top.
India is already the largest nation in the world by population. And it’s
growing so quickly that by 2070 its population should rival that of China,
the United States and the European Union combined. India also has the
fastest economic growth of any major nation. It has the second-largest armed
forces and the fastest growing military capability in the world.
Will this book, and the earlier Peter Varghese report
An India Economic
Strategy to 2035, do for India what the Ross Garnaut report and Kevin Rudd’s
writings did for China three decades ago?"
A slightly partisan and rosy view of the greatness of India.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
