Yup. As Coupta put it, from 1970s till late 1980s India was facing a technological apartheid from the developed West. There are so many times India has also faced sanctions and treated like a rogue state.

Heck, in 1998 barring France and Russia all major countries imposed 1/n https://twitter.com/AgentSaffron/status/1356908282863050753

devastating economic sanctions. Even so called friends like Japan did it.

Heck, Time correspondent Neville Maxwell had remarked in 1967 that those were the last general elections in India. Even the last British chief of India army was sure of Indian balkanisation.

2/n

India had countless separatist insurgencies which actually had international support before they turned too unpalatable even for them. Be it Kashmir or Punjab.

India has survived all of this and prevailed.

Compare western reaction to any major Indian crackdown in 1990s
3/n

to western reaction to Article 370 revocation. There will be a noticeable change.

India has survived all this international bullying and prevailed. Now, India is too major a power and only a buffon can afford to screw up ties for trivial matters.

4/n

Criticism and challenges are a side effect of being a rising power. And respect comes only with might.

We have to learn to live with this reality.

End.