A New Re-Alignment

The Russia-Ukraine war has realigned global relationships and brought focus to shifting international policies, including that of India. India has come a long way from having a defensive foreign policy to a more pragmatic one keeping national interest in mind, and as befitting an emerging economic power

"We have to continue to make India a powerful country without a Chinalike policy and continue peaceful relationships with other countries, but at the same time, we should be a strong deterrent power"

The world is witnessing the war in Ukraine over the last two months. Everybody wants the cessation of war and people are unanimous that it is only talks and diplomacy that can give results. But to a large extent, it is the opposite that is happening. Western countries are supplying war equipment to Ukraine and that makes Ukraine resilient against a much more powerful Russia. It cannot be that Ukraine should not fight to protect itself. Neither does the onus lie with Ukraine to end the war by surrendering before a powerful invader. The US and the European countries are also adding some fuel to the fire by announcing sanctions against Russia. The economic pain given to Russia makes it more obstinate and it says that the fight will continue till its goals are achieved. Nobody knows about these goals and the mind of Putin.

Debating society

There have been several debates in the UN to end the war but the fact remains that the UN has proved itself as nothing more than a debating society. In these debates, the US and the European countries propose resolutions against Russia and they are passed as well but nothing percolates to the ground. India is one country that has consistently abstained from voting. We have adopted a stand for peace without aligning with either Russia or Ukraine. India being the biggest democracy is closely watched by both the western world and Russia and its friends. Pressure is mounted on India to speak and vote against Russia but it is our stand that just speaking loudly cannot bring an end to the war.

It may look surprising that when the world is divided into two parts, neutral India is getting appreciation. Presidents of Ukraine, Russia, and the US and some other powerful countries are directly in talks with our Prime Minister. They all believe that both President Biden and Putin will listen to what our Prime Minister says. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is sure that Putin will heed our PM Modi to bring an end to the war. Why has India and the PM achieved this unique position? It is because of our robust foreign policy and at the same time, being a major economy our positive approach to bringing peace to the world without a selfish motive has been appreciated.

Foreign policy

What is foreign policy? It is the policy that a country follows in its relationship with other countries. It may be both a global policy or a country-specific one. This policy is never static but it keeps on changing from time to time, depending upon the needs of the host country. The dynamic nature of foreign policy is best summed up by Henry Kissinger, a well known foreign policy expert and ex-foreign secretary of the US. He said, “America has no permanent friend or enemy, only interests.” Foreign policy can never be ideal as Kissinger further said, “A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security.” It may look incorrect but the best foreign policy means good governance at home as explained by William Gladstone: “To keep your country safe and also economically powerful, it is needed that your country embarks upon a sound foreign policy.” The famous US President in the sixties, J. F. Kennedy said, “Domestic policy can defeat us, foreign policy can kill us.”

Messy US policy

One wise man said that the greatest crime since World War II has been the US foreign policy. We have seen a long duration of the cold war between the US and the USSR till the USSR disintegrated in 1991. We have seen a long duration of the US war on a developing country like Vietnam. We have seen America attack Iraq on the plea of their possessing weapons of mass destruction when this information was wrong. We have seen the US going against Afghanistan in 2001 and after more than ten years, retreating from there and giving Afghanistan into the hands of the dreaded Taliban. Once an unquestioned superpower, the US is now losing its glitter because of its foreign policy. The US allies are losing their confidence in the US. “We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose,” said Robert McNamara and it is here that the US committed a mistake. The US started seeing the world and changing it as per its own belief. Our foreign policy is turning to be robust as our way of looking at it is different. Our PM, Narendra Modi said, “Foreign policy is about finding the common meeting points and not about changing mindsets.”

Over the years since independence, Indian foreign policy can be seen to have changing shades. These adopted shades were the result of the thought processes of the top leadership of the country in the past and also as per the pressing needs of the country. To begin with, after independence, India chose to be a non-aligned country. The world has then been divided virtually into two blocks, one headed by the US and the other headed by the USSR. The cold war between the two superpowers has been the cause behind the evolution of the two groups. India chose to be a pioneer along with some other countries, to create a third group of nonaligned countries, which did not fall in either of the two blocks of the superpowers.

"There have been several debates in the UN to end the war but the fact remains that the UN has proved itself as nothing more than a debating society. In these debates, the US and the European countries propose resolutions against Russia and they are passed as well, but nothing percolates to the ground"

Indo-Sino ties

Idealism was also one of the reasons behind the non-alignment policy. India believed then in having a close friendship with China with the slogan: ‘India-China, bhai-bhai’. India and China signed an idealistic agreement with a high moral value, which was known as the ‘Panchasheel Agreement’. The high decibel friendship between these two countries collapsed when China attacked India in 1962. Our area of 43,000 sq. km. is still being illegally occupied by China (known as ‘Aksai Chin’). Earlier China had captured Tibet, which was the buffer zone between India and China. The loss of the war in 1962 compelled India to revisit its foreign policy and make India a stronger nation.

Indian foreign policy

The 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan also had a deep impact on our foreign policy. The US was the strength behind Pakistan while China was our friendly support. We did not manufacture our own war equipment and our own weapon supplies were mainly imported from the USSR and then Russia. Our nuclear test of 1998 attracted sanctions from the US and the western bloc countries. Russia continued to remain a friend. We gradually started tilting towards the US when China became the second biggest economic power after the US, and Russia came closer to China. We entered into a big value nuclear power agreement with the US in 2008 and then all the sanctions were removed.

We also advocated a close relationship with our neighbours, but Pakistan, right from its birth, remained a hostile neighbour. The situation became more dangerous for us on our borders. Pakistan also emerged as a nuclear country and it went ahead to form an axis with China against us. Pakistan had bonded its relationship with China by giving a part of our land (Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir) to China in 1963. For quite some time till 2014, we tried to maintain the status quo despite the terrorist activities of Pakistan.

Our foreign policy was defensive. The present government after 2014 has evolved the foreign policy to look at our own national interest while dealing with other countries. Our present PM has repeatedly said that while dealing with any country, we will look into their eyes. We will not look up or look down.

From a position of power

It is believed that other big countries are interested in us as we offer a big market to them and in such a situation, India will go for a symbiotic relationship. We have succeeded as our country is being respected and heard on each and every global issue. We have proved that even during the pandemic, we could manufacture our own vaccines and give almost two crore vaccine shots. Our foreign policy today is based on the belief that we are a powerful country. We are friendly with the US as well as with Russia. Even big Muslim countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia show us respect. The world is changing for India as we are becoming stronger.

We have to continue to make India a powerful country without a China-like policy and continue peaceful relationships with other countries, but at the same time, we should be a strong deterrent power