Foreign Policy in tatters, India abandons the moral high ground

 

 

Foreign Policy in tatters, India abandons the moral high ground

The abject failure of India’s foreign policy and its collapse under the Modi regime is a cause of national concern. Such disastrous performance was never witnessed in the history of independent India.  After Pandit Nehru, successive Prime Ministers, right up to Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, followed the Nehru’s vision of independent foreign policy affirming India’s capacity to stand on its own feet, and not to be a camp follower of any country or bloc, however powerful it might be.

Nehru’s foreign policy of non-alignment eschewed alliances with military blocs, actively engaging with all countries with a spirit of friendship, equality and reciprocity, and cooperation. It stood for an ethical code of conduct in international relations. During the Nehru and Indira Gandhi periods, the stature of India at the global level was very high because of the moral high ground it adopted, unafraid of taking a stand for a righteous cause in resolving international conflicts.

This author's doctoral thesis 'Jawaharlal Nehru: His contribution to World Peace' - published as a book Nehru and World Peace - gives a vivid account of how the world sought Pandit Nehru's mediation in defusing the international crises during the height of the Cold War when the major powers - the United States, the Soviet Union and the Red China - were not even on talking terms, post Word War II. 

 

The Modi government's approach to India’s foreign policy had demolished its very foundation anchored in the ideals of independence. The dehyphenation of India with Pakistan so arduously achieved before 2014, is reversed by the utter failure of our foreign policy under the Modi regime, with the rest of the world rehyphenating both India and Pakistan. 

 

The seven all party delegations, comprising of 59 members drawn from political parties, that visited some 33 countries, following the Operation Sindoor, failed to achieve the objective of presenting Pakistan as the epicenter of terrorism posing a threat to international peace. No top leaders of major countries met the delegates.  Nor any joint communications issued supporting the Indian position. 

That the delegations failed to explain India’s position vis-à-vis Pakistan is a reminder of the sorry state of affairs in our foreign policy establishment. Pakistan continues to get loans from the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank in spite of indulging in cross border terrorism and the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22,2025 that killed 26 innocent civilians.

 

As if that is not enough, Pakistan is made a Vice-chair of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the UN Security Council’s Taliban Sanctions Committee 2025. The perpetrator of terrorism is expected to combat terrorism. The US central command chief General Michael Kurilla had declared Pakistan a "phenomenal partner" in counter terror operations. 

America is cosying up with Pakistan, where Trump has a family business deal. And, in an extraordinary gesture in the midst of the Israel-Iran war, President Trump hosted the Chief of Pakistan Army Syed General Asmin Munir for lunch at the White House on June 18. 

It is rare, if not unpreceded, for the US President to host a lunch for a visiting foreign army chief, though Pakistan military leaders like Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf met the American Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Reagan, respectively in the past, after they assumed leadership following coups that deposed civilian leaders. This has caught India napping; its diplomacy going for a toss.  

 

India lost credibility by abstaining from voting on the Resolutions seeking ceasefire in the ongoing conflicts - Ukraine-Russia war, the Israel-Gaza conflict and the just started Israel-Iran conflict. The countries across the world wonder whether it is the same Nehru’s India that stood for a just world order.

Israel’s belligerence against the Palestinians and the Arabs defies international law and norms of civilized nations. Yet, India is seen standing with Israel, as a camp follower of Trump’s America. It failed to establish its independent foreign policy and judge the issues on their merit.

 

Israel committed unprovoked aggression on Iran on June 13, two days before the talks on nuclear deal between America and Iran were to begin, inflicting heavy damage.  And on June 14, India distanced itself from a statement issued by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCD) which condemned the miliary strikes carried out by Israel. The 10-member bloc, chaired by China, called Israel’s “aggressive actions against civilian targets in Iran, including energy and transport infrastructure, which have resulted in civilian casualties, a gross violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

 

On June 12, India abstained from voting during the UN General Assembly Resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, abandoning its principled stand advocating ceasefire, peace and dialogue. In the 193 member UN General Assembly, an overwhelming 149 members voted in favor of the Resolution, with India, alongside 19 small and insignificant countries, abstaining from voting. 

It was very embarrassing. India was the only country in South Asia, the BRICS and the SCO to abstain, thus getting totally isolated from the community of nations. K.C. Venugopal, the Congress General Secretary, remarked: “We know this government has little regard for Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy why abandon even Atal Bihar Vajpayee’s principled stance on Palestine.” It is disgraceful that the Modi government chose to abstain on the UN motion for the protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligation in Gaza, in a tragic reversal of India’s anti-colonial legacy.

 

It is humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded in Gaza, where the people are facing collective retribution for their identity. It is indefensible that the land of the Mahatma doesn’t stand for peace in the Middle East. The Congress General Secretary, Priyaka Gandhi, reacted:”60,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed already, an entire population being confined and starved to death, and we are refusing to take a stand... not only are we standing alone as Benjamin Netanyahu annihilates entire nation, we are cheering on as his government attacks Iran and assassinates its leadership in flagrant violation of its sovereignty and complete contravention of all international norms.” Historically, India acted as a go-between and a moral bridge between the warring sides to defuse conflicts.  

 

Today, what we witness is glaring absence of global leadership that is competent and upright. The conflicts in the Middle East are the result of assertion of Western supremacy, with an emerging new world order with no checks and balances. It is American hegemony under a morally bankrupt leadership of Donald Trump. 

In Netanyahu, the West in General, and America in particular, find a tool to reassert supremacy by eliminating regional adversaries. That explains why the G7 summit held in Canada backed Israel on the Israel-Iran conflict.  In a statement issued on June 16, the Group of Seven nations said: “We affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel. Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror.”

 

This is blatantly one-sided. The hypocrisy of the West is exposed. While America and the West do not want Iran to make nuclear weapons and abandon its nuclear programme, they are silent on Israel having a nuclear stockpile. 

Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; Israel is not and pursues clandestinely its nuclear programme. Trump is not willing to listen to his own aides that Iran’s nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and that it has no plans to make nuclear bombs.

The aggression against Iran by Israel, backed by America, has two objectives: One to prevent Iran from making nuclear bomb and second to effect change in the regime - that is to overthrow Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump is intimidating and blackmailing Iran and asking it to surrender unconditionally. Israel even threatened that if Iran didn't surrender, Khamenei would meet the fate of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. 

Khamenei survived a bomb attack in 1979 revolution and became Iran’s supreme leader in 1989 and committed to maintaining Islamic system of government and deeply distrustful of the West. He is a supreme commander of the armed forces, having the power to declare war.

 

Narendra Modi, the leader of the largest democracy and the most populous country in the world, should not be seen falling prey to the machinations of Trump - disruptor of the world order - and playing second fiddle. Today, India has no fiends, stands totally isolated, as amply established by the Operation Sindoor. Our traditional time-tested friend Russia is not with India. Our immediate South Asian neighbours are not with us, while China, Turkey and Azerbaijan stood in solidary with Pakistan.

 

Modi is not realising how India is getting isolated because of his person-centric and self-centered approach to governance, which projects his image as larger than life. He lacks vision and is unable to provide a benevolent leadership. He prefers to be surrounded by sycophants who flatter him and become his cheer leaders, thereby protecting their fiefdom. 

Take for instance, what Amit Shah said on Narendra Modi being conferred the highest civilian honour by Cyprus during his visit on June 16: “This reflects the continuously rising stature of India on the global stage. This is the 21^st international award given to our PM, making him one of the most decorated lenders in India’s history.” Amit Shah seems to have forgotten conveniently that Cyprus- a small Island in the Mediterranean Sea- is a tax-heaven, with which the Adani Group of Companies has business deals.

 

It is tragic that the nation is witnessing such a sorry spectacle when India is reckoned with as a major player in international affairs and its military and economic might is rising. Way back in 1971, neither India's economic nor miliary strength was anywhere near to what we have today. And yet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India’s foreign policy and diplomatic orientation formed a crucial part of formidable military strategy in the war of 1971 when Pakistan was dismembered, its solders surrendered before the Indian Army, and Bangladesh emerged as a new country. She set an example of a remarkable leader in shaping her own independent path by defying the intimidation and pressure from President Richard Nixon, who stationed the 7^th fleet in the Bay of Bengal and threatened to strike India.  

 

It is the dismal failure of the foreign policy under Modi’s regime. It is in this context that Nehru’s vision of foreign policy assumes greater significance to restore India’s credibility at the national and global level. With the foreign policy in tatters, India abandons the moral high ground.