Modi’s World
Author : C Raja Mohan
Publisher : HarperCollins, Rs499
The book notes that domestic stability is the key to a successful foreign policy. Hence, Modi must ensure that religious extremists’ fringe elements resist from creating instability within India, writes Namrata Goswami
C Raja Mohan’s book is an applause to the spirited transformation of India’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He contrasts this with the neglect it suffered especially during the UPA’s second term. Modi, viewed as a novice in the domain of foreign policy, has surprised many by his willingness to take calculated risks in order to harvest opportunities for India on the world stage.
Tying together his columns from The Indian Express over the past one year, Raja Mohan discusses Modi’s foreign policy engagements. For one, he believes that Modi has clearly invoked India’s desire for a dominant role in international relations. For another, the foreign policy tide has changed from emotive ideology (anti-American, anti-West) to being pragmatic. By extension, Raja Mohan asserts that pragmatism in Indian foreign policy could be Modi’s legacy. He compares Modi’s style of diplomacy with that of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee who gave priority to the South Asian region, declared the US a natural ally, and personally travelled to Pakistan despite the odds.
Reading through the columns, which are not always seamlessly interwoven, one can still detect that Raja Mohan squarely blames the national security establishment and the strategic community for spewing negative self-doubting foreign policy postures during UPA-II. The author emphasises that Modi has overturned this culture to an extent by his own personal interventions despite the bureaucratic systems continuing to act in risk averse ways. This is validated by the four foreign policy engagements during Modi’s year in office.
First, Modi invited the Heads of the SAARC nations and the Prime Minister of Mauritius (a first) to his swearing in, visited Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and through his speeches in these countries, revealed a disposition to include the region in India’s quest for economic development. Modi went so far as to exhibit his willingness to put national interests above his own party’s parochial interests when he signed the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh despite the Assam BJP unit creating political obstacles.
Second, in regard to China, Raja Mohan contends that Modi has understood the importance of doing business with China while at the same time showcasing resolve at the disputed border. In implementing this policy, Modi is utilising power balance vis-à-vis China by establishing strong relations with Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and ASEAN. While this continues the earlier foreign policy of Manmohan Singh, it has got new impetus due to Modi’s visible readiness to broadcast Indian presence. The author accuses former Defence Minister AK Antony for playing ‘spoiler’ to requests for defence partnerships from Southeast and East Asian states, due to his risk averse nature and in giving undue weightage to China’s reactions. He specifies that if China is least concerned about India’s reactions to its strong relations with Pakistan, why should India be so considerate of what China thinks.
Raja Mohan, however, cautions that China is serious about building infrastructure corridors like the BCIM that integrates eastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and south western China, the Maritime Silk Routes between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and its several port building ventures in the Indian Ocean littoral. Consequently, India must consolidate in these areas if it aspires to remain the key Indian Ocean naval power. Raja Mohan infers that the rise of China is something modern India never had to deal with before. It always dealt with Great Powers from the West, geographically distant from South Asia. Hence, China is proving to be a strategic challenge because not only is it geographically proximate, but it also aspires for influence in South Asia. The other insight that can be drawn from the book is that in China’s engagement with South Asia, it wants India to be a co-partner thereby exhibiting its confidence to do business with all (A Great Power behaviour). For Raja Mohan, Modi has finally echoed a similar affinity, exuberating confidence and Great Power behaviour. However, despite this, Raja Mohan cautions that Indian security establishment continues to be paranoid with China due to the lack of ‘strategic self-assurance’ and will create obstacles for Modi in his long term goals.
Third, Raja Mohan maintains that Modi has recognised the centrality of the US in promoting “India’s internal economic transformation and improving its international standing”. As a result, Modi took the initiative and invited President Obama to India, not letting his personal experience of visa denial come in the way of what he believed was in India’s long term interest. As a first, Modi signed a vision document with the US on the Asia-Pacific where freedom of the seas was mentioned as of priority including in the South China Sea. The author infers that if India gets its relations with the world’s biggest power right, its manoeuvring space with countries like China, Pakistan, Japan, and Europe will increase.
Finally, Modi caught the attention of Asia and the world while speaking in Japan, where he contrasted two concepts in international relations, that between vistavaad (expansionism) versus vikasvaad (peaceful development) implicitly contrasting between China and India’s foreign policies. In doing so, he laid out the path of peaceful development that India will tread, followed since independence under its former Prime Ministers. Raja Mohan disputes the academic proclivity for an Asian International Relations as a false proposition as most of the concepts used are rehashed Western concepts. Thereby, what Modi has successfully achieved is to use an indigenous vocabulary, if not new IR concepts. Modi also highlighted the importance of culture as a part of diplomacy by successfully lobbying the United Nations to declare June 21 as the “International Yoga Day’, by re-discovering the Buddhist connections between India and countries of Asia, and by visiting places of religious significance. Raja Mohan asserts that while there was criticisms on Modi’s visit to the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal, he indicates that it is no different from East Asian leaders visiting Sarnath or the leaders of Bangladesh and Pakistan visiting the Ajmer Sharif while on state visits to India. The book comments on Modi’s unprecedented connect with the Indian diaspora, turning them into stakeholders in India’s progress.
Raja Mohan signs off on a cautionary note. He notes that domestic stability is the key to a successful foreign policy. Hence, Modi must ensure that religious extremists’ fringe elements resist from creating instability within India with their divisive religious agendas. Instead, Modi should actuate the wise sayings of Vivekananda who believed that India be open to all influences and teachings and become the all-inclusive Vishwaguru that Modi aspires it to be.
The reviewer is a Research Fellow at IDSA. Views expressed are personal