It is possible to understand today’s India only if one understands its history, and how this history influences the country’s elites. For them, India will be a great nation again because it has already been one in the past; its destiny is clear. Whatever their politics have been, this has been how they have all reasoned since Independence. All observers agree that Indians are motivated by their enthusiasm for this idea.

India’s riches have always attracted foreign envy. Alexander the Great attempted conquest, but had to turn back after reaching the Indus. Later the Arabs reached it without being able to establish a permanent presence, as did Islamic Afghan chiefs in fragmented and temporary invasions. The Mughals, also Muslim, arrived from Central Asia, and created a permanent presence. They controlled almost the entire country until the arrival of the British. India has always enriched itself with external cultures which it absorbed to a greater or lesser extent, even though it had itself been a great civilisation.

India’s characteristic diversity is at the origin of the secular tradition of Indian government, which accepts all creeds and all forms of thought. The current President of the Republic is a Muslim (and not for the first time); the senior ranks of the Civil Service are drawn from all the communities, including even the tribal areas; some general officers are Sikhs, Muslims or Christians—even if the proportion of Muslims in the Army is smaller than it is in the population as a whole. Most of the key posts in the civil and military power structures are held by Hindus (who form the majority of the population), but on the whole merit remains the main criterion for selection. In the private sector many of the most successful businessmen are Muslims, although they tend generally to remain in the background.