(......The Leftists critique of PM Narendra Modi's foreign policy has become less audible amidst the rapid decline in its parliament seats and intellectual influence. None can believe there is no communist legislator in West Bengal and today; there is another paradox despite the BJP government’s constant attack on the Nehru era and Nehruvian foreign policy, the Congress party has not risen to the occasion.)
But it goes without stating that the opposition Congress and likes of Rahul Gandhi are not debating the government on foreign policy. At the same time as C Raja Mohan writes - "With India's growing international clout, interest has grown in the country's foreign policy. But the political class, especially the Opposition, hasn't adequately engaged with government, even in run-up to elections.
India might be polarised on various domestic issues in this general election, but there is hardly any political argument on foreign policy. Is this because Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy is so spectacularly successful that there is little room to debate?"
The fact of the matter also is that Modi has truly over the years weathered enough brickbats and political discomfort to emerge as the party’s new mascot and a global leader at the world stage. In terms of handling neighbours such as Pakistan, Modi made his intent clear when he invited Nawaz Sharif and other SAARC leaders for his swearing in on May 26, 2014.
In his first address at the UN, Sept 27, 2014 -- Modi has said: "My government has placed the highest priority on advancing friendship and cooperation with her neghbours. This includes Pakistan....However, Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate environment for it".
But things did not happen as expected. As Pakistan kept its 'support terror' tool operative and attacked sleeping Indian soldiers in Uri; Modi pulled up his sleeves and said enough is enough. Surgical strike was carried out and in 2019 yet again, there were aerial Balakot strikes.
This neo-assertiveness is new Bharat -- new India --- 'ghuke andar marenge' !!
Of course a clear majority in 2014 and enhanced mandate in 2019 and also numerous victories in state assembly polls in critical states such as Uttar Pradesh, gave Modi a great command over his party and government.
There was a "freer hand" in running foreign policy unlike all prime ministers of coalition era -- from V P Singh to P V Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh.
"All his (Modi's) predecessors since Rajiv Gandhi had to run coalition governments in which all policies, including external affairs, were under continuous disputation," says Raja Mohan in his 'Indian Express' article.
The appointment of a professional career diplomat — Subrahmanyam Jaishankar — as the foreign minister in 2019 has also given 'Tam Modi' a "definitive edge in international relations".
But, there is a paradox. "Ironically, the more India has become global, the less engaged its political class is with international affairs".
"The lack of a foreign policy debate today is less about a genuine consensus than declining interest in world affairs within the demoralised Opposition," says the 'Indian Express' article.
On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi whenever abroad attacked Modi and his government on domestic issues. It is true, asked repeatedly about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rahul Gandhi backed the government’s position.
However, the Congress also tied itself into knots on the questions of terrorism and the “Palestinian cause”.
During the first term of the UPA government (2004-09), the Left parties had shaken India’s foreign policy to its core. They opposed the historic civil nuclear initiative and pulled out of the coalition, accusing the Congress of sacrificing India’s strategic autonomy by drawing close to the US.
Although the Left parties were out of the UPA coalition, its influence on foreign policy endured in the second term of the UPA (2009-14). The Manmohan Singh government slowed down the engagement with the US. Over the last decade of NDA rule, India has moved closer than ever before to the US, and in PM Modi’s words, Delhi has shed its “historic hesitations” in engaging Washington.
The last decade has seen a dramatic expansion of popular interest in foreign policy. The Indian diplomacy have created the basis for a genuine democratisation of foreign policy discourse.
The G20 narratives in states changed the game.
There are four emerging issues in foreign policy.
-- First is the need for a diagnosis of the changing international order. The ongoing war in Ukraine. The RIC factor in international politics. Possibility of a new G-3 .... when India will be the third economy after the US and China.
There must be a debate about the nature of this key variable.
There has never been a time when it has seemed more possible than now to change things at the global stage.
** Second, if India’s challenge in the last three decades has been about adapting to the logic of globalisation, now there is a room for a productive contestation of ideas on how to raise India’s share of global trade.
Third is the question of dealing with a China that has risen and presents challenges across all major policy areas in the functional domain.
Finally, the old tropes of “non-alignment” and “strategic autonomy” have become less relevant for an India that is on the rise and is well-placed to become the third-largest economy in the next few years. An India with the ambition to become a developed nation by 2047 deserves a new strategic lexicon and a new geopolitical grammar.
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