In the smouldering backdrop of the Indo-Pak conflict, the West’s persistent anti-India bias is not just a diplomatic irritation—it’s a calculated betrayal of reason and fairness.

The laboured equivalence drawn between India, a vibrant democratic victim of terror, and Pakistan, a state with a notorious track record of nurturing jihadism, is intellectually dishonest and reeks of a deeper agenda. This isn’t about neutrality; it’s about power, prejudice, and a West uneasy with India’s unstoppable rise.

Read in Hindi: भारत के तेजी से बढ़ते कद को लेकर पश्चिम है ‘बेचैन’

Take the Trump administration’s recent antics. One moment, it declares ‘no business, no interest’ in the Indo-Pak conflict; the next, it’s peddling a farcical ceasefire proposal as if it’s the global arbiter of South Asian peace. This flip-flop isn’t an anomaly—it’s a continuation of a US policy that, across administrations, has coddled Pakistan with billions in aid despite its duplicity in harbouring terrorists.

Why? Because authoritarian regimes like Pakistan’s are easier to arm-twist than India’s messy, principled democracy. Pakistan’s military junta can be bought or bullied into providing bases or intelligence. India, with its fiercely independent streak and non-aligned history, doesn’t play that game. And that, it seems, is a sin in the West’s eyes.

The Western media’s role is equally shameful. Newsrooms, both print and electronic, churn out reports on the Indo-Pak conflict that tilt heavily toward Pakistan. Many of these pieces, often penned by Pakistani diaspora writers, whitewash Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism while painting India’s defensive measures as aggression. This isn’t sloppy journalism; it’s a deliberate attempt to put India and Pakistan on the same moral plane, ignoring the former’s democratic credentials and the latter’s terror rap sheet.

The systematic effort to dim India’s light—whether through skewed narratives or selective outrage—betrays a discomfort with a nation that refuses to bow to Western scripts. What fuels this bias?, asks activist Dr Devashish Bhattacharya. "Geopolitics is only part of the story. The West’s preference for Muslim-majority Pakistan over Hindu-majority India hints at a cultural unease, one that’s harder to pin down but impossible to ignore."

Public commentator Prof Paras Nath Choudhary says, "Hinduism, with its open-ended debates, pluralistic ethos, and practices like yoga, meditation, and vegetarianism, doesn’t fit neatly into the West’s Judeo-Christian or secular-liberal frameworks. It’s not just a religion; it’s a way of life—resilient, adaptive, and intellectually formidable. India’s contributions, from ancient mathematics to modern IT, challenge the West’s outdated stereotypes of a backwards, mystical East. Could it be envy? A Hindu-led India, thriving on its terms, is a quiet rebuke to Western cultural supremacy, and that stings."

Then there’s India’s arms industry, a new thorn in the West’s side. India’s push for self-reliance—think indigenous missiles, fighter jets, and naval systems—has rattled Western arms lobbies.

Rajiv Gupta, President of Lok Swar, says, "The US and Europe, long accustomed to India as a lucrative buyer, now face a competitor rewriting the rules of global power. The West’s muted response to India’s defence milestones, compared to its fawning over smaller players, speaks volumes."

A self-sufficient India isn’t just a threat to their bottom line; it’s a challenge to their control. In the ongoing conflict, India has again demonstrated its superiority. In fact, the Josh is so high that India can go to any length to devastate the enemy with its cohorts.

The West’s love-hate dance with India boils down to one truth: India’s independence—political, cultural, and now military—unsettles a world order that thrives on dominance. Equating India with Pakistan isn’t just bad faith; it’s a desperate bid to clip the wings of a nation marching forward, unapologetically Hindu, unabashedly futuristic, adds social activist Mukta Gupta.

The West may not be at peace with this India, but India doesn’t need its approval to soar. It’s time the world took notice—and the West took a hard look in the mirror.