Despite the damage caused by the record rise in COVID-19 cases, India remains the "greatest rising power" on the planet and has a number of fundamental strengths that will make it one of the "most powerful" countries in the world, according to report published in a Saudi daily.
Rebuffing critics of India's handling of the pandemic, American foreign policy expert Dr John C Hulsman in an op-ed for Arab News has said that India's political power structure is stable and both Modi and the BJP are politically secure in a way that other "developing countries can only envy."
Due to a substantial rise in virus cases, India has witnessed a strain on its health infrastructure and subsequent rebuke from some sections of the western media.
Hulsman has argued that the analytical danger is to look at India's tragic problems of today, but not at the enduring changes lying beneath the surface that will continue to make it the "greatest rising power" in the world.
"First, India's political power structure is remarkably stable. Surprising most of the foreign policy commentariat (but in line with my firm's political risk predictions), the BJP actually gained seats during the May 2019 national parliamentary elections," the American expert said.
"Coupled with these political advantages, India's demography affords it a mighty relative advantage. It is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous nation by 2024. Crucially, more than 50 percent of India's population is below the age of 25 and 65 percent is under the age of 35," he added.