[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

“And after all that, not a single Soviet base on Indian soil. So much for “alliance”.”

Fiancee unit reported seeing lots of old Soviet era red stars and Stalin photos/statues in south India - but also noted that they seemed old and dejected. It was a different era, for sure.

Why should India let anyone else have bases there? They have a lot of landmass and they can protect it themselves. We don’t give other countries basing rights, either. India sees themselves as achieving Superpower status at some point. Not this decade, but it’s a possibility.

[CarrotAndStick]

Those are not Soviet era stars. Those are the symbols of the Kerala Communist Party. Your fiancee might have also seen other symbols, including a lotus and also a figure shaped like the palm of the hand. The latter two are the symbols of the other political parties. All three have to win votes to stay in power, during regularly held elections.

The Communists are technically Socialists, and can never have absolute power like in the case of the Soviet Union or China. The Indian Constitution simply forbids such a power arrangement. They are like the Communist Party, USA, except that the Kerala equivalents have won power a couple of times. Currently the recent state elections were won by the Congress Party, who are moderate-to-right wing. Kerala, and the other state of West Bengal, are the only two states among the 28 that have ever had the Communist Party win power.