As chairman of Parliament’s External Affairs Committee, I have always proudly articulated our tradition that political differences stop at the water’s edge—there isn’t a Congress foreign policy or a BJP foreign policy, only Indian foreign policy. Yet I can’t help feeling that there are aspects of the Modi government’s foreign policy in the last four years that are not easy for many to swallow as India’s, rather than his.
As the BJP celebrated its fourth anniversary of assuming office, it was safe to conclude that we have at its helm a prime minister whose foreign policy report card has largely been a tale of much activity and few results.
Like most Indians, I acknowledge the energy Narendra Modi has brought to his foreign travels—forty-one trips in four years to fifty-two countries, as of June 2018. (Even if it means that his office still owes an outstanding amount of over Rs 325 crore to the debt-ridden national carrier, Air India, as on 31 January 2018).
Mr Modi’s desire to introduce himself to the world was entirely understandable after many years of international ostracism where the only country willing to grant him a visa seemed to be China.He can be forgiven for overcompensating somewhat: the website Asia Times calculated that Prime Minister Modi was out of his office every third day in his first four years in power, spending 477 out of 1,491 days—up till Tuesday, 26 June 2018—in his term as PM visiting other countries as well as various Indian states. This is equivalent to a year and three months out of his four years as prime minister. (PM Modi’s favourite destination remains China, which he has visited six times, including twice in 2018, but the United States and Germany come close, with five trips each.)
While it is fair to depict the prime minister as an energetic salesman abroad for the Government of India, his travels came at the expense of domestic priorities, where—in an over-centralized government—key decisions and appointments were kept pending because of the prime minister’s unavailability. And as India itself underperformed, the credibility of the star salesman himself increasingly came under question. After all, how long can a salesman impress by the sheer force of oratory and cleverly designed international spectacles if the package he is selling is empty?
Mr Modi has also proved unable to keep his domestic political interests out of his foreign policy. In countries with a substantial Indian population, including the US, UK and Australia but also the UAE, Philippines, Kenya, Singapore and Israel, he had special events arranged for him to address the resident Indian community, often in large stadiums like New York’s Madison Square Garden.
These events were designed to promote the greater glory of Narendra Modi and to denigrate India’s achievements before he came to power; on more than one occasion he claimed Indians had been ashamed of their passports till his assumption of office.
This is scarcely a line calculated to enhance the country’s image abroad, even if it served narrow political objectives back home (and reportedly enhanced the BJP’s coffers through generous donations from attendees and other well-heeled expatriates).
Moreover, worryingly his visits inevitably sparked a justifiable fear among many observers that the headlines and speeches surrounding his visits were merely ‘feel good’ aspects that mask growing troubles elsewhere and the serious lack of a cohesive foreign policy blueprint for the country.
Mr Modi’s Impromptu Foreign Policy extracted from The Paradoxical Prime Minister by Shashi Tharoor , with permission from Aleph Book Company.