India, March 30 -- The smoldering geopolitical fault lines of West Asia have ignited a domestic gas storm, flickering into the very heart of the Indian kitchen. As maritime chokepoints tighten and regional conflicts trigger a domino effect of supply disruptions, the fallout is no longer a distant headline-it is a mounting national panic. From the serpentine queues at petrol pumps in Delhi to the frantic scramble for LPG cylinders in Mumbai and Bengaluru, a sense of hysteria is beginning to take hold of the public mind as prices touch record highs.

This chaos is a final warning: India can no longer afford to be a hostage to the volatility of distant wars. And that too dependence, in a fractured geopolitical order, is a strategic liability...