By Radha Rajan

Aspirants to regional or superpower status do not cower before neighborhood punks or walk in the shadows of bicep-ed bullies. A nation which cannot eliminate internal threats to national ethos and territorial integrity, a nation which refuses to stand up to external challenges to national sovereignty, a nation which cannot subdue or contain neighbors less than one-fourth its size, a nation which thinks being proclaimed America’s strategic partner in America’s war against terror is high honor, a nation which knocks on every doorstep to be invited to the high table called UNSC obviously lacks national vision and objective; obviously, such a nation lacks national pride. We are therefore a long way away from being super power; we are not even on our way to becoming a regional power.