Because Non-aligned (NAM) was more or less a lie. India was strongly oriented towards USSR, all while never committing strongly enough to actually get legitimate support. It was also naively ideological, in a "if we play nice, so will everyone else".
India allowed China to get their own UN security council seat on the idea of NAM, all while China itself blocked India's entry into the UNSC.
In 1965, India received zero support from either sides, while being pressured by the same UN to withdraw troops despite having gained massive ground in heavily settled parts of Pakistan. Even Indonesia, India's closest NAM ally and co-founder, supported Pakistan in the war.
Every time India has tried to take the moral high ground, it has come out of it in a poorer position.
India can't stay non-aligned while Chinese and Pakistani leadership keep claiming more and more land (Tawang, Junagad, etc) within Indian borders. It can't rely on tacit support from this paper tiger super power Russia or an Iran that is headed towards becoming a Chinese proxy.
For some reason, India is expected to bear the weight of being the moral compass of the world, all while the same world continuously disparages it for being a discriminatory and backward nation led by a fascist leader. (some accusations are admittedly well placed)
Being an ally doesn't mean, India has to be a proxy state. Japan, South Korea, UK or France aren't American proxy states, but are American allies. It simply means to seek relationships where interests align. To pretend that India is non-aligned is to pretend that India does not have interests.
The last "Pakistani" who cared about Junagadh was Shahnawaz Bhutto (Zulfiqar Ali's father, not the son). And for a country who is a stickler about instruments of accession I guess the rules get bent if you want to rebuild Somnath.
Pakistan updated their map last week newly claiming Junagadh as their land.
When it comes to partition itself, fair,clean and sensible are the last words I would use to describe it. I maintain that the hasty exit set India and Pakistan to be warring nations till the end of days.
That being said, the idea that any ruler of a princely state should have a right to decide a regions fate is honestly quite weak. Almost all of India's princes happily operated as proxies for British exploitation. Plebiscite would have been the right choice for Kashmir as it was Junagadh. The eruption of invading military forces (put lightly) in independent Kashmir never allowed that plebiscite to ever happen, and for all we know, it never will.
After change of demography in Jammu (which Patel and Mehrchand Mahajan went about “anjan banke” no wonder they had shame to not ask Nehru for plebiscite)
Who in particular expects India to be the moral compass of the world? That sounds like something one might hear from the editorial board of an Indian newspaper. I don't think it's particularly on anyone's mind in the US.
India allowed China to get their own UN security council seat on the idea of NAM, all while China itself blocked India's entry into the UNSC.
In 1965, India received zero support from either sides, while being pressured by the same UN to withdraw troops despite having gained massive ground in heavily settled parts of Pakistan. Even Indonesia, India's closest NAM ally and co-founder, supported Pakistan in the war.
Every time India has tried to take the moral high ground, it has come out of it in a poorer position.
India can't stay non-aligned while Chinese and Pakistani leadership keep claiming more and more land (Tawang, Junagad, etc) within Indian borders. It can't rely on tacit support from this paper tiger super power Russia or an Iran that is headed towards becoming a Chinese proxy.
For some reason, India is expected to bear the weight of being the moral compass of the world, all while the same world continuously disparages it for being a discriminatory and backward nation led by a fascist leader. (some accusations are admittedly well placed)
Being an ally doesn't mean, India has to be a proxy state. Japan, South Korea, UK or France aren't American proxy states, but are American allies. It simply means to seek relationships where interests align. To pretend that India is non-aligned is to pretend that India does not have interests.