Ten years of PM Modi’s foreign policy: An era of great challenges and greater achievements

Ashok Sajjanhar

Prime Minister Modi and his foreign policy team have handled with aplomb some of the wide-ranging challenges that have arisen over the last 10 years

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI

It is a little less than 10 years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over as the head of the NDA government in New Delhi in May 2014. At that time, it was presumed that foreign policy would be Modi’s weakest suit in governance since he had no or little experience in dealing with foreign countries.

Ten years later, however, foreign policy has emerged as one of Prime Minister Modi’s biggest strengths. This is particularly commendable since India and the world have experienced challenges of a nature that the global community has not witnessed over several decades. One of the most debilitating of these was the COVID-19 pandemic which was a black swan event occurring after a gap of 100 years. Before the world could come to grips with the pandemic, it was struck in quick succession with two unanticipated conflicts viz., the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas confrontation. Some other unsettling developments during this period included the increasingly aggressive behaviour of China in the East China Sea against Japan and Taiwan. In the South China Sea against several ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) countries, and against India and Bhutan on the undemarcated and disputed land boundary.

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Notwithstanding these and several other challenges on the domestic and international fronts, Prime Minister Modi ably assisted by his former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and current EAM S Jaishankar, and by virtue of his bold, visionary and firm leadership, raised the image and profile of India as a partner of choice, a voice of reason and a consensus builder in the world.

Neighbourhood First

One of the first initiatives launched by Prime Minister Modi was the ‘’Neighbourhood First’’ policy when he invited Heads of State/Government of all SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Countries) and Mauritius, to his swearing-in ceremony on 26 May, 2014. He invited leaders of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), Kyrgyzstan and Mauritius to his second oath-taking ceremony on 31 May, 2019.

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The success of the Neighbourhood First policy is evident from the fact that India’s ties with its neighbours (barring Pakistan, China and more recently Maldives) are much stronger and deeper today than they were in 2014. Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Nepal in August 2014 was the first bilateral travel by an Indian prime minister to Nepal in 17 years. Since then, Prime Minister Modi has travelled four more times to Nepal viz. in November 2014 for the SAARC Summit; twice in 2018, once on a bilateral visit and again for the BIMSTEC Summit; and the fourth in 2022 on a visit to Lumbini at the invitation of the Nepalese prime minister. The meeting of the Joint Economic Commission between the two countries in September 2014 took place after a hiatus of 23 years. All these visits as well as interactions with Nepalese leaders on their visits to India have significantly enhanced understanding and cooperation between the two countries.

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Similarly, the unanimous ratification of the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh (Indira-Mujib Accord signed in 1975), sent a strong message that India is keen to strengthen its bilateral ties with Bangladesh, its important eastern neighbour.

With Sri Lanka also, the first visit by Prime Minister Modi in March 2015 was the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister after a long gap of 28 years. The decisive and emphatic political and economic support by India to Sri Lanka in its hour of existential crisis and need in 2022 by providing it with $4.50 billion for meeting its urgent and essential needs, significantly enhanced the confidence in the bilateral partnership and took it to new heights.

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The decline in ties with Pakistan, China and Maldives is not on account of any failure or missteps by India but due to actions taken by these countries for domestic political or strategic reasons. India has responded firmly to terrorist attacks from Pakistan as well as incursions into Indian territory by China. The Muizzu-led Maldivian government came recently to power on the back of an ‘’India Out’’ campaign but India’s mature and statesmanlike handling of the situation is contributing to bring the relations on an even keel.

Link West policy

One of the most significant successes of Prime Minister Modi’s foreign policy is the deepening and broadening of India’s ties with West Asia/Middle East. Earlier these countries used to look at India through the religious prism of Islam created by Pakistan. This is no longer the case today. 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 and Palestine have decorated Prime Minister Modi with their highest national awards.

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UAE had invited the then EAM Sushma Swaraj to address the foreign ministers of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) in 2019, over-riding the objections by Pakistan. Moreover, none of the West Asian countries took a stand against the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A by India. On the contrary, UAE has committed to invest $5 billion in Jammu and Kashmir for the development of hospitality and tourism infrastructure. The success of India’s foreign policy in the region can be judged by 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.

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Act East Policy

India’s Act East Policy has been remarkably successful in expanding and diversifying its relations in economic, political, strategic, connectivity and cultural spheres with ASEAN countries as well as Japan, Australia, Republic of Korea, Pacific Island Nations, and others.

India-US Relations

The preceding 10 years have witnessed remarkable growth and strengthening of trust and confidence between India and US. Prime Minister Modi has dealt with three US Presidents viz., Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and relations have continued to soar in the tenures of all these presidents. This has emerged as the most consequential global relationship for India in political, strategic, economic, commercial, and technology spheres. The two countries engage in 60 dialogue platforms including critical and emergent technologies, renewable energy, connectivity, education, health, agriculture, green hydrogen, defence, semiconductor chips and many more. Prime Minister Modi was accorded the singular honour of being invited for a state visit by President Biden in June 2023, and also to address the Joint Session of the US Congress for the second time (The first time he addressed the US Congress was during Obama’s term in 2016). Prime Minister Modi has also been an active participant in the revival of the QUAD in November 2017 and its upgradation to summit level over the last three years.

Russia-Ukraine conflict

India has firmly displayed its strategic autonomy by not only not criticizing Russia for its attack on Ukraine, notwithstanding the huge pressure from the west but also continued to import large quantities of oil and gas at concessional rates to provide affordable and reliable supply of energy to its people.

G20 presidency

Possibly the successful conduct, both logistically and substantively, of its G20 presidency can be considered to be the pinnacle of Prime Minister Modi’s achievements over the last decade in the realm of foreign policy. No one had anticipated that India would succeed in crafting a consensus Leaders’ Declaration, given the widely divergent positions on the conflict in Ukraine of the West on one side, and Russia and China on the other. But India was able to achieve the unthinkable on the first day itself. Much of this success can be attributed to the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and the personal ties of respect and mutual benefit that he has been able to foster with most world leaders. The World came together to ensure a successful G20 presidency for India. India got the African Union inducted as the 21st member of the Group and emerged as a Voice of the Global South and a Vishwamitra (Friend of the World) as a consequence of the remarkable success of its G20 presidency.

Cultural rebalancing

In addition to the far-reaching initiatives in the political, economic and strategic arenas, Prime Minister Modi has given a push to several cultural themes like yoga, Ayurveda, millets, International Solar Alliance etc. to establish India’s leadership in the cultural and spiritual domain. This has sought to actively project Bharat’s position as an ancient thought leader focusing on ‘’Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’’, the oneness of the global family.

Conclusion

Prime Minister Modi and his foreign policy team have acquired themselves highly creditably to deal with the wide-ranging challenges that have arisen over the last 10 years. Today the world is in transition. The turmoil and turbulence present challenges as well as opportunities for India to enhance its standing and emerge as a more consequential and effective global player in the years to come.

The writer is executive council member, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, president, Institute of Global Studies, Distinguished Fellow, Ananta Aspen Centre, and former Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.