Modi 2.0: In its first year NDA government has built on foreign policy initiatives of first term

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term (2014-19) was marked by a distinct and assertive style of confidently engaging with the world which was a marked contrast to the low-key style of functioning that was the hallmark of his predecessor Manmohan Singh’s foreign policy initiatives.

The hugs with foreign leaders and business tycoons might have been dismissed as photo-ops by his critics, but it was clear that PM Modi wanted to push forth an image of an India that had not only arrived on the world stage but was keen on taking Brand India to countries that mattered.

From the US to Europe, PM Modi was given a rock-star reception by the Indian community wherever he went – and he didn’t disappoint with his speeches that were a mixture of folksy wisdom and a nostalgic pull to the diaspora’s heartstrings.

With China, India followed a unique strategy of having “informal summits” between their two leaders.

After winning a second term, the prime minister has built on the momentum gained in the first five years.

In October 2019, at the ‘Howdy Modi!’ event, Modi electrified a massive gathering of Indians in Houston in front of a visibly impressed Donald Trump. In February, it was the US president’s turn to be a guest at the ‘Namaste Trump’ event near Ahmedabad, again a show of strength that had the kind of crowds which both leaders are perfectly at home with.

Though Trump is unpredictable in his dealings with foreign leaders, his equation with Modi has been consistently warm. Tensions between the US and China over Beijing’s handling of the pandemic on the one hand and India’s own ongoing border stand-off with China on the other mean the possibility of closer defence and strategic ties between New Delhi and Washington could suddenly accelerate.

India has also started to play a keener role in the Quad, an informal strategic tie-up between the US, Japan, Australia and India, all countries that have reason to wary of a rising China in the Asia-Pacific region.      

It’s noteworthy that last year the US kept largely silent as the Modi government dramatically changed the status quo in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NDA deftly managed the possible fallout of the Kashmir situation in no small measure thanks to the keen understanding Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, a former career diplomat, brings to the job. From the EU to the Arab world – India’s partners have largely gone by New Delhi’s assertion that whatever it does in Jammu and Kashmir is its internal matter.

Of course, Pakistan and China are a different matter and both share large borders with Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. While Pakistan has continued to push militants into Indian territory, China’s incursions into Ladakh in the past few weeks across the Line of Actual Control is something the duo of Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval could be grappling with for the next few months.

That said, considering that another informal summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Modi at Mahabalipuram took place in October 2019, the two leaders have built a personal rapport and it might require intervention at the highest level to prevent the border stand-off from turning into something more unpleasant.

In the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, India has a special role to play because not only is it home to 1.3 billion people but also any treatment or vaccine for the disease will see a significant contribution from India, a pharma giant. No matter where a drug or vaccine is developed, Indian companies will be closely involved in making them accessible in large quantities to the entire world.

Looking ahead, the Modi government has a two-fold challenge: ensuring that India’s voice at the global table is heard more prominently in the post-COVID world and minimising the damage the pandemic has caused to the Indian economy.