The momentum behind the idea of free trade in India seems to be unstoppable. In particular, a new kind of Indian patriotism seems to have arisen, which combines an enthusiasm for economic freedom and globalization with the ambition to see India emerge soon as a global superpower.

Perhaps the most potent proof of this is to be found in the ever-improving relationship between India and Pakistan, which used to be a relationship involving only the worst sorts of patriotism on both sides.

Recently these two countries resumed playing cricket with one another. Now, trade is following where the bat and the ball have lead:

Official annual trade between the two countries averaged around US$300 million until last year when the nuclear rivals began a dialogue to end their hostility, including their core dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

In the fiscal year ended March 2005, trade between the two countries nearly doubled to about US$600 million. The momentum has been sustained through this year, said Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Two-way trade between India and Pakistan in the April-June quarter totaled US$184 million (euro152 million), up 20 percent compared with the same period last year, he said.

"Ours is a partnership which can be the strongest in the region and we are moving in that direction," Nath said, sharing the dais with his Pakistani counterpart.

The connection in Indian minds between free trade and patriotic sentiment is likely to be further strengthened by recent revelations concerning the activities of the Soviet KGB in India, during the time when Indian policy thinking was wedded to more collectivist, Soviet-inspired notions.

If the now discredited era of Indian economic dirigism and resulting economic stagnation comes to be thought of in India less as an Indian decision, and more as a foreign delusion foisted upon India by a now utterly discredited foreign power, the connection in Indian minds between economic freedom and Indian patriotism can only get still stronger.