Narendra Modi’s energetic popularisation of foreign policy in India’s public discourse is a stark departure from the past, when foreign policy events were largely unknown beyond the corridors and chancelleries of New Delhi. This wider involvement of the public would be welcome if it sparked informed debate, transparency, and accountability for foreign policy outcomes. But amid communal polarization and declining press freedom, public discourse has only complicated India’s relations with sundry countries, particularly in the neighbourhood.
A day might be a long time in politics, but in foreign policy, even a decade is usually not long enough to merit a serious appraisal. The last decade, however, has witnessed a phenomenal change in both the scale and the scope of global politics. At the same time, politics in India has undergone a tectonic shift too. Inevitably then, India’s foreign policy was bound to be affected as well. But it’s not just that. Beyond global shifts, it is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal involvement in the realm of external relations that has accorded India a unique place in contemporary international affairs today.
Proving The Critics Wrong
It is easy to forget that when Modi came to power in 2014, his critics had painted him as a provincial politician who didn’t have adequate engagement with foreign policy. His ‘Hindu nationalist’ credentials were deemed to be a liability that would constrain India’s outreach to the Islamic world, in particular. But Modi has managed to keep both his detractors as well as his supporters on tenterhooks by following a pragmatic foreign policy, keeping the ‘India first’ mantra at its core. Right from the time he surprised everyone by inviting all South Asian nations to his swearing-in ceremony in 2014, to the current day, when a visit to Bhutan is in the works in the midst of a gruelling election campaign, Indian foreign policy has been ‘Modi-fied’ in ways that were not expected when Modi took the reins a decade ago.
Of course, India’s emergence as the centrepiece of contemporary global political discourse has a lot to do with the structural changes shaping the international order. The shifting balance of power and growing disillusionment with China in the West has focused the world’s attention on India, which has emerged as the fastest-growing major economy in the world. India’s favourable demographics, its position as an attractive alternative to China, and its centrality in the key strategic geography of the Indo-Pacific have together contributed to making this India’s moment.
Towards Being A ‘Rule-Shaper’
What has also changed is New Delhi’s growing willingness to be more proactive on the global stage, which is in line with its aim of taking on the role of a ‘rule-shaper’. Modi’s diplomacy on the global stage has managed to give wings to India’s aspirations of playing a larger international role. Consequently, Indian foreign policy has made the most of this inflexion point in world affairs. In the last decade, India’s image of being a perpetual naysayer in global politics has changed to a nation that is more than willing to contribute to global governance. Just last week, the Indian Navy’s rescue of a commercial ship that had been hijacked by pirates off Somalia’s coast is a sign that Indian policymakers today are ready and willing to assume operational burdens in order to ensure the safety of commercial shipping as well as freedom of navigation in strategically vital waterways.
The artificial divide between the domestic and the foreign also seems to have faded under Modi. India’s key priority remains its domestic developmental transformation, and for that, what’s needed is an all-hands-on-deck approach. Indian diplomacy, too, is geared towards harnessing the country’s developmental aspirations. This has brought about an inherent pragmatism in New Delhi’s external outreach, wherein though partnerships have become key, India’s needs, and not ideologies, determine the contours of its engagements. From building robust ties with the West to sustaining an important partnership with Russia through the tricky landscape of the Ukraine crisis, India has managed to insulate its global engagement from the growing turbulence around it.
‘Neighbourhood First’
The Modi government’s regional outlook under the “Neighbourhood First” approach has sought to promote regional stability and prosperity, recognising the importance of a secure and cooperative neighbourhood for India’s overall development and security. The focus of New Delhi’s South Asia policy has shifted from its fixation with Pakistan to the more productive Bay of Bengal maritime geography, which lends itself to a more organic connection between South and Southeast Asia. This permanent de-hyphenation of India and Pakistan is perhaps the single most important achievement of the last decade, allowing New Delhi to focus on the real strategic challenge: China.
Modi had initially started off by reaching out to China so as to manage its rise through diplomatic engagement. Beijing, however, had other plans. India’s stance after the Galwan Valley crisis of 2020, that Sino-Indian relations cannot be normal unless the border situation is resolved, is audacious, and there has been no going back on that. India’s growing footprint in East and Southeast Asia and its inclination to shape the strategic contours of the wider Indo-Pacific underscore a new reality: New Delhi will not be diffident as it seeks a greater regional and global role for itself.
In climate change negotiations, India has both stood its ground on key issues of national interest and become a positive interlocutor as well, changing perceptions about India from a naysayer to a credible stakeholder. India, under Modi, has taken the initiative to set up the International Solar Alliance, it has launched the Coalition for a Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, it is meeting its commitments under the Paris Agreement, and has set a target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, etc.
India is projecting itself as a civilisational power. It has introduced its own ideas in international discourse. This is apart from the UN declaring International Yoga Day on June 21. These include Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, One Future Alliance, and Global Initiative for Public Health — building on its Vaccine Maitri diplomacy that won it great goodwill in developing countries. Other ideas are Global Food Supply Chain, LiFE, a human-centric approach to technology, Global Digital Public Infrastructure, etc.
India’s relations with the Arab world have evolved. India had close relations with the progressive, secular, anti-fundamentalist Arab regimes such as Egypt and Iraq during the heyday of the nonaligned movement, but difficult ties with the conservative Gulf monarchies. India has emerged as a significant political, economic and strategic partner of these countries. This is evident from the fact that several of these countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Palestine have decorated PM Modi with their highest national awards. Today India has remarkably close ties with the UAE as well as strong ties with Saudi Arabia, with both countries wanting to modernise their societies and de-radicalise them. Their economic interest in India has grown. The improvement of ties began under the NDA government but has been raised to an entirely new level by the Modi government. The inauguration of a Hindu temple in the UAE by PM Modi reflects this great change, apart from the FTA with the UAE.
Moreover, no West Asian country took a stand against abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A by India. On the contrary, in the first significant foreign direct investment in J&K, UAE committed to invest a total of Rs 500 crore, including Rs 250 crore for a mega-mall, and more to help set up IT towers in Jammu and Srinagar. Success of India’s foreign policy in the region can be judged from the fact that India was able to get its eight retired Navy personnel who had been awarded death sentences for espionage, pardoned by the Emir of Qatar and set free to return to India in February 2024.
With Galwan in 2020, China violated several border agreements between the two countries and the relations have taken a nosedive consequently. India stood up to China at Doklam, as also in the Sikkim and Tawang areas. Today, Indian and Chinese troops are facing each other at the border. India is not foreseeing an early de-escalation on the border but is maintaining open the doors of negotiation. We have made it clear that relations with China cannot be normal unless the situation on the border becomes normal. Under PM Modi our diplomatic discourse on China is no longer defensive.
India is leveraging its ties with the US and allied countries to increase deterrence against China. Quad, the Malabar exercises and the Indo-Pacific concept are a part of this approach. India and the US recognise the shared threat from China’s expansionism and illegal sovereignty claims. We are cooperating with France in particular in the western Indian Ocean to monitor China’s activities. India has set up in December 2018 an Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean region for maritime domain awareness. In general, India is focusing as never before on international naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean. This is very different from the time that we were averse to the presence of foreign navies in the Indian Ocean.
Under PM Modi, India-US ties have risen to a different level with several bilateral visits, including a highly successful state visit in June 2023 when he addressed the US Congress, the only Indian leader to do so twice. Defence ties have expanded, foundational agreements in the defence area have been signed, major defence platforms have been acquired, and the US has become India’s biggest trade partner. The basis for cooperation in critical and emerging technologies has been established with the creation of the ICET mechanism.
A major change is the intensity with which the Modi government is dealing with the Indian diaspora. Modi has electrified the Indian diaspora with his stirring addresses and given them a sense of pride in the country whose many achievements he highlights eloquently.
In the second term, after former diplomat S Jaishankar took charge as the foreign minister, Indian diplomacy turned more aggressive, projecting itself as independent and rooted in self-interests. India’s overseas missions have increasingly spoken on behalf of Hindus around the world, in matters such as alleged attacks on Hindu temples.
Dropping The Ideological Baggage
Over the last few years, New Delhi has not been averse to challenging adversaries and courting friends, and it has done these things without the ideological baggage of the past. From being the only global power to challenge Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative as far back as 2014, responding to Chinese military aggression with a strong military pushback, trying to work with the US without entering into the full embrace of an alliance, to engaging the West for building domestic capacities, India has been pragmatic to the core and willing to use the extant balance of power to its advantage. India’s focus today is on enhancing its capabilities in every possible sector, and that allows for a more clear-eyed engagement with its partners.
India is positioning itself as a “leader” of the Global South, which is both a continuation of its long-standing policy and a marked change from the past. The G20 presidency gave India the opportunity to take this leadership role to a new level by organising the Voice of the Global South summit in January 2023. India was successful in putting the views and priorities of the Global South on the G20 agenda, be it food, fertiliser and energy issues, reform of multilateralism, the working of Multilateral Development Banks, debt relief, accelerating the achievements of SDGs, financial and technological transfers to developing countries to address Climate Change issues, etc. The G20 agenda is no longer G7-oriented
India’s leadership in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of its health, economic and social impact has won it plaudits and respect from the world. That it was able to initiate far-reaching economic reforms and rapid digitization of its economy even during the pandemic has earned it kudos from the global community. In addition to its huge successes in dealing with the pandemic on its domestic front, India emerged as one of the few countries to share about 300 million vaccines with more than 100 countries, most of them on gratis basis. The world has realised that India’s development and growth is good not only for its own people but the whole world, particularly the developing countries.
Even though Modi has made few changes to India’s long-standing strategy of neutrality and independence, his government faces a different set of incentives and interests from those faced by previous governments. As argued in the 2021 book, “Flying Blind: India’s Quest for Global Leadership,” the domestic policies and growth model of a liberal, secular, democratic India had given New Delhi much in common with the norms and values of the West. But in recent years, India’s domestic politics has given Modi increasing common ground instead with countries like China and Russia — on issues such as the regulation of human and business rights, the expansion of state control over sundry policy domains, and the containment of Western values in global governance.
On a wide range of issues — from the war in Ukraine to the war in Gaza, from Iran to Taiwan — India has continued to avoid articulating a coherent policy stand. Whenever New Delhi has been vocal, it has done so to defend its right to be silent and neutral.
As a corollary, Modi has also continued and expanded the efforts of past governments in seeking a series of alliances with countries that are avowed enemies of each other. India has therefore been extremely comfortable in being part of both the Quad (with the United States and its allies) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (with China, Russia, and their allies). It has also been able to extract advanced weapons from the U.S. while simultaneously seeking opportunities for joint defence development with Russia.
On this front in particular, Modi has registered arguably his biggest and most notable success. In a geopolitically fractious world, few major powers have managed to induce cooperation with the U.S. while publicly courting its biggest foes. India has been a striking exception. By exploiting Washington’s fears of China adeptly, Modi has managed to elicit extraordinary support from the White House while actively refusing to give anything in return.
India refuses to pledge support to the U.S., for instance, on any of its major geopolitical goals — whether in Europe or the Middle East. It also continues to rebuff requests for access to bases in the Indo-Pacific, unlike the Philippines. And it won’t commit to fighting alongside U.S. forces in the event of a conflict with China, unlike other U.S. allies in Asia.
A Responsible Stakeholder
The world, which has been more used to a pontificating India of the past, today hears an Indian voice on the global stage that is capable of articulating a narrative of a responsible stakeholder, which, despite being firmly steeped in its own ethos, is not willing to shirk global commitments. New Delhi led the way in shaping the regional response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Asia, which then became global in scope. The Indian initiative to support its neighbours with critical supplies of medicines and later vaccines as part of the Vaccine Maitri initiative was a reflection of a new confidence in India that it can offer solutions to global problems. India’s G-20 presidency is only a recent example of how Modi’s leadership on the international front has made a mark.
Today the world is in transition. The turmoil and turbulence presents challenges as well as opportunities to India to enhance its standing and emerge as a more consequential and effective global player in the years to come. Its conduct over the last 10 years gives both hope and confidence that India will emerge stronger, more influential and authoritative player on the global scene.
This is a challenging time in global politics, but Modi has given India a unique and special voice over the last decade. More than any other major power today, Indians view their future in aspirational terms, and that is shaping their domestic as well as foreign engagements. Modi has been successful not only in tapping into that sentiment effectively, but also, in a sense, shaping that aspiration into his own image. And that’s a formidable legacy.
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