Ram Madhav on why we need to put India first

Dwelling at length about the impact of the Prime Minister in India's foreign policy since the advent of the NDA government, former BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav argued that New Delhi has been able to de-hyphenate from other countries and establish stand-alone bilateral relations with others.“India's de-hyphenation is well established now in world leaders making standalone visits to New Delhi,” Madhav told Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express, and author and senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai in TNIE Expressions, a series of live webcasts with people who matter. He stressed that the PM by first undertaking a standalone visit to Tel Aviv demonstrated that India can carry her bilateral relations without being weighed down by any other factor.Yet, he stressed, India continues to support the cause of the Palestinians. The Indo-US ties have evolved in the recent past to work for the mutual interests of the two countries, said Madhav, a Board member of India Foundation. Madhav noted that the Democrats in the run up to the US Presidential elections had taken a certain position on Jammu and Kashmir. There is a difference in politics over an issue and diplomacy, he said.“India is a sovereign country, and there could be a need for an extra effort to remove any misunderstanding on any issue through diplomatic means. In diplomacy, we reach out to each other.