It goes without saying that the main and foremost objective of India’s Foreign Policy was, is and shall be to secure its ‘national interests’. This has been the ‘basic character’ of the foreign policy of India from the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of the country, to the era of Narendra Modi, the present prime minister of India. All the regimes in the country led by different prime ministers took every care to secure our borders, protect territorial integrity, counter terrorism, ensure energy, food, cyber security, development in all spheres and areas, etc. What is also true at the same time is that the country faced different challenges at different times internally and externally. While the fundamental principles of India’s foreign policy remained unchanged, the governments were seen working with changed foreign policy priorities from time to time to deal with the global challenges as they arose. India’s relations with various countries and its diplomatic priorities underwent changes at different points of time as the changes in the world order took place. Nobody would disagree that the world today is not what it was at the time of Pt. Nehru or any other prime minister succeeding him for that matter. How could India remain a silent spectator amid the change from bipolar world to multipolar one? New Delhi’s diplomatic ties with major powers including the US, Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, South East nations, etc. kept changing accordingly. India under different prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh to now Narendra Modi conducted its relations with the outside world in different formats as per the need of the hour.
Soon after its independence in 1947, India under Nehru along with many newly independent colonies established the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961. In fact, Indian foreign policy makers had to deal with an ideologically divided world then. Western and Eastern blocs were led by the United States of America (USA) and former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) respectively. The foreign policy under Nehru preferred to follow the NAM principles. Pt Nehru had said, “We propose as far as possible to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned against one another, which have led in the past two world wars and which may again lead to disasters to even vaster scale.” However, the NAM path started turning out to be difficult to follow for India with the changing world order with the passage of time. The world shifted from bipolar character to multipolar global order making it difficult for successive regimes to continue with the NAM policy that Nehru focused on and prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi tried to stick on to during their regimes in India. However, despite insistence on non-alignment policy, these regimes were seen tilting sometimes towards the USSR and sometimes the US, in what was seen as a departure from past diplomatic legacy. The successive governments including the present one led by Modi apparently realised that the NAM is not relevant to the current geostrategic situation and India’s position in the world. PM Modi’s words “our foreign policy is only about India’s First” convey a strong message about India’s position today. At the recently held G-20 Summit in New Delhi, Modi’s mantra “One Earth, One Family, One Future” underlines his foreign policy priorities. In order to sustain its growth trajectory, India needs substantial external cooperation and inputs. With PM Modi focused on the roadmap to make India a $5 trillion economy, India needs foreign partners, foreign direct investments, financial assistance and transfer of technology. The foreign policy’s role is obviously quite important in the mission of Modi. That’s why his government’s foreign policy has shifted its focus to this aspect over the last few years. In other words, ‘Diplomacy for Development’ has integrated economic diplomacy with political diplomacy. This is how foreign policy has evolved since the time of Nehru who was a strong backer of the NAM. Modi needs a foreign policy that could help accomplish his mission aimed at expanding outreach to the multipolar world in a bid to put India on the global map as a top power.
Modi himself once said, “The foreign policy is not about changing mind-sets. The Foreign policy is about finding the common meeting points.” Under Modi’s watch, India has definitely made a major shift in its foreign and economic policy in an attempt to achieve its ambitious goal of development, taking into account the changing global politics. While the basic tenets of the foreign policy remain unchanged, they are naturally modified from time to time to achieve the country’s interests. This is what has been done by the Modi government. The results of the innovative diplomatic course and action have been witnessed. There is no denying India has become the leading country not only in the Asian continent but also globally. Undeniably, today India is on the way to becoming the most powerful nation on economic and military fronts. The ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ that was the focus area of the Modi government’s foreign policy helped India to consolidate its position in the region considerably, with countries in neighbourhood and extended neighbourhood and Southeast nations looking to India as a reliable partner. PM Modi’s diplomatic outreach to ASEAN member states has yielded positive and desired results in terms of strategic, economic and trade sectors. Commentators say, and rightly so, that “since assuming office in 2014, PM Modi has turned India into a strategic player with a highly effective foreign policy.” According to them, Modi has done this by shifting New Delhi away from its old strategy of strict nonalignment, paving the way for stronger ties with great and middle-sized powers.” PM Modi’s foreign policy priorities led to India gaining a strong position in the region where it is seen as a power to balance and deal with a belligerent China. The US, Russia, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, South Korea, France etc. are all looking to India as an able and competent partner in their strategy to counter an aggressive China in the Indo Pacific region and in other geographies as well. Any reference to China’s formidable challenge brings Pt Nehru’s principle of Panchsheel in the spotlight. Nehru’s principle of Panchsheel had hit a setback when India was attacked by the Chinese in 1962 and Nehru was severely criticised for the country’s failure to defend itself. Chinese aggression against India underlined that non-alignment had to be tied up with defence requirements on urgent basis for the security of the country. However, leaders in India continued to pursue an independent foreign policy.
Amid the Ukraine War, PM Modi did not compromise on India’s independent foreign policy. He did not condemn Russia despite the pressure from the West. The PM did not also say anything that could be seen as a justification of Russian action against Ukraine. He continued to emphasise diplomacy and dialogue as the only solution to resolve the crisis. The Western countries including the USA appreciated India’s position on Ukraine, thanks to the diplomacy of Modi. US President Joe Biden invited PM Modi as a State guest in what was seen as another achievement for Indian diplomacy. PM Modi’s diplomatic masterstroke achieved consensus on New Delhi’s Leaders’ Declaration at G-20 Summit, which reflected India’s motto “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas,” It was a diplomatic win for India that the G20 Declaration avoided criticism of Russia for its war against Ukraine. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also lauded the New Delhi Declaration of the G20 members saying it represents a diplomatic triumph. Not only this, former PM Manmohan Singh praised the Modi government’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. This is how the Indian foreign policy has covered a significant journey under Modi’s leadership from the time when Nehru took over as prime minister of the country. The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government from 2004-14 was seen tilting towards America, which among other issues turned out to be a trigger for withdrawal of support by the Left bloc to the UPA I alliance government in 2009. The India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, signed in 2015 was a key achievement of the Manmohan Singh government. This resulted in improvement of ties between India and the US. ‘Look East policy’ was a key focus of PV Narasimha Rao’s foreign policy. His government focused on improving relations with the Southeast Asian countries to counter China’s growing clout from 1991-95. Rao also focused on improving ties with ASEAN. The UPA government also continued to bat for the Look East policy in its foreign policy priorities. But PM Modi rechristened it as Act East policy in 2014 soon after coming to power. He gave momentum to the Act East policy after renaming it. In 1998, Atal Behari Vajpayee oversaw five nuclear weapon tests in Pokhran. The first test happened in 1974 when Indira was PM. The Pokhran tests were Vajpayee regime’s key achievements in what brought India on a par with other nuclear capable nations including China. This marked Vajpayee government’s big foreign policy approach.
What distinguishes PM Modi from his predecessors on the foreign policy front is that he developed strong personal rapport and relations with his counterparts and heads of various nations. He also established a direct connection with the millions of Indian diaspora members living in several countries. PMs before Modi were focused on government-to-government interactions. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised more on developing personal interactions with the global leaders. The G-20 Summit saw this part of PM Modi’s diplomacy. By all indications, Modi has widened his foreign policy priority and area which includes establishment of India as a leader of various global blocs. He succeeded in bringing up the Global South at the centre stage during the G-20 summit. He introduced the elements of ‘paradiplomacy’ in India’s foreign policy where each state and cities would be encouraged to forge special relations with countries or federal states of another country or even cities of their interest.