Superpower: To be one is by changing West and not India altering itself

In my political science class in the mid-1990s, I asked my professor, ‘What is a superpower?’ I was hoping she’d say it’s the ability to fly or create a crime-fighting iron suit like Tony Stark’s Iron Man. Instead, she said, ‘A superpower is a nation that can do anything, and the world will sort of accept it.’

‘Accept like what?’ I asked.

‘Like dropping an atom bomb and everyone going, ‘I guess it’s America that’s dropped an atom bomb. Ok, fine,” she replied.

Meaning doing reckless stuff with no repercussions or reprimands. This doesn’t quite apply to India – outside India, yet. There would be a UN reprimand if we suddenly dropped half a million samosas over Bhutan. Or at least a scolding.

For the last 47 years, I’ve often heard that Bharat will be a superpower. Even after we’ve become a superpower and our time has come and gone, will we still scream that our time will come?

With the Delhi G20 summit, our recent successes on the moon, and the usage of non-English place names in English, we seem to be hitting the right notes for whatever superpower-ness means. Gone are the days when an Indian prime minister had to stand in line for an audience with the Queen of England. We now get a red-carpet welcome everywhere (except, well, Pakistan). The desire to be taken seriously is an age-old problem. As a stand-up comedian, I can relate.But no matter how many nuclear bombs we accumulate, or how many rock concerts at stadiums the PM performs at, or however far back in history we go to look for the golden age of the kingdoms of Bharat, there is a general Western public perception of India that isn’t space power and Infosys and economic might, but still shanties and om shantis, autorickshaws and homeless children at traffic signals. And in that perception war, every time we land on the moon, BBC or CNN will ask, ‘Why is such a poor country wasting resources to go to the moon when it can feed people?’Slumdog Millionaire India always won over Sundar Pichai Billionaire Bharat in the perception wars. And hugging Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak tightly may not solve that. I may want to be a comedy superpower, but we all know Kapil Sharma is that person. Suddenly, if I call myself Kapil Sharma, other than frightening my friends and family, the chances of my career skyrocketing from niche urban British Bengali comedian to Jat comedy legend is limited.

I would argue, we are already a superpower, not by changing India, but by changing the West. We did it when we least realised, and by two methods as old as time: reproduction and migration. Go anywhere in the world, especially in Anglophonic countries like the US, Canada and Britain, people with Indian roots pretty much run everything. From legislatures, hospitals, courts, schools, and municipalities to MNCs.

I’m not suggesting we encourage more immigration and reproduction to become a superpower. Still, I’d argue Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy saying crazy things has a more significant impact on India’s power than sending a rocket to flirt with the sun, or suddenly changing the name of, say, West Bengal to Usha Uthupia.

Superpowers may evolve differently. China did it by manufacturing and dictatorship, Sweden with Ikea and Abba, and Argentina with Maradona. It’s perfectly all right if we do it by our numbers spreading worldwide. We don’t need to tear down history to create a new future. We need to embrace the present – the fruits of NRI procreation.

Our goal shouldn’t have been to impress G20 leaders by shutting down Delhi. It should be to have a G20 summit where every world leader visiting from the West has Indian grandparents. When every other country was trying to rule the world with the lights on, we got there with the lights off.