Myanmar in the balance: West must beware sledgehammer sanctions, which will snuff out the democratic spirits February 9, 2021, 7:16 PM IST Indrani Bagchi is The Times of India's diplomatic editor. She calls this blog a wide canvas through which she looks at the world and how India responds to it. The world – certainly India – has deep stakes in Myanmar. Let’s acknowledge this reality before rushing to consign our next door neighbour to perdition after last week’s coup. Yes, the generals are back in Naypyidaw. They had never really left, they had merely made space for a civilian whose popularity and trajectory unsettled them. The guns won, on a day when parliament was to open with an overwhelming victory by Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party. The reasons for the coup range from the junta alleging electoral fraud to their fear that Suu Kyi would undermine the constitution and their predominant role in the country. One or all of these may be correct.