Abdul Rahman
Modi led central government is approaching
the end of its five-year term. At the time of its coming to power it had
promised a significant change in India’s position in International politics. During
elections campaign Narendra Modi gave the impression of a ‘tough’ leader who
would keep “India First” and would never compromise on the issues of national significance‘unlike
in the past’. The protection and promotion of ‘national interest’ was to be the
sole motto of this government. After the election results were declared BJP got
majority in the Lok Sabha making it the only party to do so in the last three
decades. All these facts and declarations inflated the expectations of the
analysts and common people from the government. In the initial months a kind of
blitzkrieg of media campaigns helped in consolidating this image.Throughout his
term Modi visited unprecedented number of countries (according to official data
around 84 till 2018) apparently to pave the way for greater and meaningful
engagements with them. Each time Modi visited a country Indian media went gaga
about it selling the government version about its historicity and importance.
On certain occasions such visits were prioritized even over critical moments at
home. For example, immediately after announcing the demonetization Modi left
for Japan in November 2016. However, despite all these hullabaloo and pomp the
effects of all those visits on India’s status in international politics and in
its economic development are invisible. However, most of the foreign policy
commentators are yet not ready to call the bluff. Given the high expectations
and high voltage campaign of a successful foreign policy carried out by this
government it is pertinent to take a stock of the real situation now. In this
context, present article is the first in the series of four articles attempting
to analyze four different and defining aspects of India’s foreign policy-India
and its Neighbors, India and China, India and the USA and Indiaand its anti-Imperialist
Commitments-during Modi regime to put the record straight and clear.
In this article we are going to
examine India’s neighborhood policy.