There has been a paradigm shift in India's foreign policy under the dynamic leadership of Modiji. In a short span of a little more than eight years the whole world is looking upto him on important international issues. Though India is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council, all the permanent members look up to Modi for his opinion and try to get his consent as far as possible. Modiji's well thought out and assertive foreign policy has been well executed by our equally competent External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. The duo is a deadly combination and they are bringing laurels for the country by their deft diplomatic and political moves.
Gunnar Myrdal, in his book, ' Asian Drama ', called India a soft state i.e. a nation which easily bends and compromises its interests. Modiji has brought about a turnaround in this image. It was 2017 when he put his foot down at Doklam and after a standoff of seventy three days China was made to backtrack. Again, India has been on a long standoff with China for more than two years on the Ladakh border after the Galwan Valley incident in which twenty Indian armed forces personnel were killed. The Chinese admitted, after quite some time, that they had lost four armed forces personnel. However, the International Strategic Research Institute, London, said that China had lost much more personnel than India as per the satellite pictures of the skirmish. India has stood its ground since then. Now, the process of disengagement has started on the Ladakh border.
India has thus called the bluff of Chinese military might and shown the world, particularly its neighbours, that China can be successfully taken on. Australia was emboldened by the Indian success and defied Chinese threat and made light of its badmouthing. All this has enhanced India's stature in world politics.
The US led NATO is afraid of China's emergence as a global power. Its increasing proximity with Russia is another cause of concern for them. Their ray of hope lies with India and therefore she is being given so much importance in Quad, an alliance of the US, Australia, Japan and India which aims to contain the growing influence of China in the Indo Pacific Region.
It is a difficult situation for India as she has to make a balance between America and Russia. She has to carefully make America understand that a possible Delhi- Beijing -Moscow axis would be highly detrimental to the US led western interests. So, it is in their larger interest to keep India in good humour.
The present government is handling the whole situation deftly without aligning with any group which has been the cornerstone of our time tested foreign policy. The change is that India has become more assertive as it has become more powerful and the leadership is capable of making the most of the given situation. Hats off to Modiji and S. Jaishankar.
The writer is a former member of the BJP State Executive Committee and Convenor, Education Cell. The views expressed in the article are the writer’s own.