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Modi Doctrine: Elixir of Indian foreign policy
Sreeram Chaulia is a Professor and Dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs in
Sonipat, India.
Published time: April 29, 2014 21:39
As Indias voters appear poised to ring in a change of government
in the ongoing general elections, one moot question is assuming
significance: what will be the future foreign policy direction of the country under the new dispensation in
New Delhi?
Strategic elites in India and international observers are reading the tea leaves to decipher the likely path
that one of the most important emerging powers will take in the world for the next five years.
Expectation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under Mr. Narendra Modi has the best chance of
taking power after results are declared on May 16, is piquing interest about the likely changes in foreign
Indian women queueing to cast their votes in Alwar, Rajasthan on April 24, 2014 . (AFP Photo / Files /
Prakash Singh)
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policy that India might adopt. In light of this imminent turnover of power in New Delhi, it is pertinent to
elaborate the principal challenges facing contemporary Indian foreign policy.
The foremost problem is the question of identity and self-definition. How does India view itself in world
affairs? Is it a wannabe great power or, as Amitabh Mattoo of the University of Melbourne puts it, a
reluctant superpower hesitant to assert itself on the global stage? Is India a leader of the Global South
or has it abandoned the causes that win followers among fellow developing countries? Is it satisfied being
a hegemon of South Asia or does it have broader ambitions of exerting influence in the rest of Asia and
beyond?
The current government and its predecessors did not dwell on who are we? kind of lines. This neglect
left a void in defining Indias core national interests and imbuing them with a deeper purpose. Thanks to
confusion about Indias international identity, long-term policy planning and scenarios about the state of
the world to formulate grand strategy for the year 2020 and beyond have been missing altogether in the
largely ad hoc universe of Indian foreign policy. If Mr. Modi becomes Prime Minister, he would be wise to
invest his brains trust with these crucial tasks.
The second problem dogging Indian foreign policy is the question of strategy. Is India engaged in
counterbalancing China or the United States, the respective number two and number one powers in the
world? Should India bandwagon with the US in order to ward off the immediate strategic threat posed by
the Chinese neighbor, or is India also intent on remaking the wider global order by checking American
power through forums like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)?
Indian pole
Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi (2-R) prime ministerial candidate for India's main opposition Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), waves to his supporters as he arrives to file his nomination papers for the general
elections in the northern Indian city of Varanasi April 24, 2014. (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Recent unofficial doctrines such as the Nonalignment 2.0 strategy advocate equidistance from both
China and the US. But does India also have the wherewithal to build itself up as an independent third
power center in world politics, with its own group of adherent nations and its own brand of, say a Mumbai
Consensus, that is distinct from the Western Washington consensus or the so-called Beijing
Consensus?
While placing faith in speeding up economic growth as the ultimate guarantor of a more powerful India,
the next government in New Delhi should simultaneously develop a vision document aiming at
multipolarity, in which India is a pole in its own right rather than a mere pendulum swinging in an la
carte basis on issue to issue between China and the US.
Should Mr. Modi become the Prime Minister, he must demand accountability from the US for its
massive cybersurveillance over private and governmental communications in India. The previous
government under Dr. Manmohan Singh was too meek on a grave threat posed to Indian national
security by the US National Security Agencys intrusive snooping. It rightly condemned American abuse
of a female Indian diplomat, but left the bigger issue of mistrust generated by the NSAs hacking
unaddressed. Washington took India for granted due to the non-assertive approach of Dr. Manmohan
Singh, who had a strange affection for America beyond what was warranted from the head of
government of an aspiring great power.
Setting the limits and red lines beyond which India will not tolerate great power meddling, and devising
ways to concretely counter threats from more powerful states, will be the litmus tests for the gutsiness
and toughness which the
BJP and Mr. Modi tout as cornerstones of their approach to national security and foreign policy.
A supporter of Kashmir's ruling National Conference (NC) party, wearing a vest with images of ploughs,
Big picture
The third problem in the conduct of Indian foreign policy is the question of capacity and political will. The
next central government has to reverse the pathetic trend of understaffing and under-equipping Indias
career foreign service corps. Political will from the top, i.e. the Prime Ministers office, to invest in a more
expansive and global foreign policy will be required to overcome parochial navel gazing and
complacency.
Although India cannot match the fat checkbook diplomacy of China around the world, there are more
creative means for the former to be involved in solving global security and economic crises.
Overcautious and reactive thinking, which are hallmarks of Indias foreign policy in recent decades, must
be replaced with a more proactive and engaged big picture diplomacy that aims to reorder global
institutions and democratize them.
In distant parts of the world, India has thus far followed only economic interests without displaying any
stake in resolving regional conflicts and security dilemmas. New Delhi needs to step up to the plate
where Indias MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) is presently MIA (Missing in Action).
Mr. Modi will also perform a profound national service by paying greater attention to the military in
shaping Indias national security doctrines and postures. The abysmal allocation of an average of less
than 2 percent of GDP to defense in recent times is a retrograde policy which India should be jettisoning
under the new government if it has to send a signal of its will to raise its material capabilities. Military
diplomacy should also become integral to foreign policy making, something that all great powers past
and present have done without exception.
The other constituency which Mr. Modi should rope into foreign policymaking is India Incorporated.
Previous governments have failed to harness the full potential of the Indian private sector as a force
multiplier that brings rich foreign policy dividends. Mr. Modis image as a corporate-friendly politician is an
asset that can give jet propulsion to Indias commercial diplomacy and stoke the interlocking
relationships that the BJP has vowed to nurture in its election manifesto.
shouts slogans during an election campaign rally being addressed by Farooq Abdullah, the president
and a candidate of NC, in Kangan, east of Srinagar, April 28, 2014. (Reuters / Danish Ismail)
Beneficiary position
Two big constraints have stunted Indias foreign policy dreams, viz. its dependence on imports for
energy security and military hardware. Overcoming these deficits through time-bound energy and
defense indigenization blueprints will yield phenomenal benefits for Indias much-desired strategic
autonomy. Mr. Modis reputation for result-oriented governance in the domestic sphere must also
translate into a hard-charging foreign policy if he takes charge after May 16.
The next five years will be seminal for the global power transition that is underway between West and
East and between Global North and Global South. India is poised to be a beneficiary because the
tailwinds of this transition are with Asian powers. But it takes extraordinary leadership in foreign policy
and a master plan for India to ride the crest and take its due place as a great power. The vehicle of the
state has an accelerator which needs a firm foot to be pushed and a strategically astute driver behind the
steering wheel. Mr. Modi can enter the league of foreign policy statesmen only if he can satisfy these
criteria.
The last time an Indian Prime Minister was associated with a systematic set of ideas, principles and
well-honed means to guide foreign policy was in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the Indira Doctrine of
Mrs. Indira Gandhi was enunciated. In 1997-98, there was an abortive Gujral Doctrine named after the
short-lived prime ministership of Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, but it hardly had any lasting impact. In the
absence of doctrines, Indian foreign policy is a saga of improvisation and unpredictability that does not
behoove a major power.
Workers carry electronic voting machines (EVM) at an election material distribution centre ahead of the
seventh phase of the general election at Howrah district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal April
29, 2014. (Reuters / Rupak De Chowdhuri)
Mr. Modi is on the cusp of what pollsters predict as a certain victory in the general elections happening
right now in phases across India. The BJPs projection of him as a strongman, who is the answer to the
anxieties and frustrations of Indias people, has drawn a comparison by veteran Indian journalist Mr.
Dileep Padgaonkar in The Times of India to the images of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Interestingly, all
these three international figures have patented a hard-nosed foreign policy style and substance that has
forced the world to sit up and pay serious attention to their respective claims and interests.
If Indian voters entrust the keys of the nation to Mr. Modi, a Modi Doctrine in foreign policy should
ensure that the next five years do not go down as a lost phase when the country could not grasp its
historic international opportunity.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of RT.
Comments (12)
BRICSIAN 30.04.2014 12:45
arrow 30.04.2014 11:52
You have hit the nail. Otherwise how can a country, that was Obama's "strategic partner of the
21st century" only a year ago suddenly become a cesspit, where 700 million people don't have
toilets( i couldn't find the source of this data), where society is caste ridden and racist ( perhaps
the source is colonial historians and sociologists) ?

The negative reaction and anger (in the followers of Western hegemonistic ideology) ...


BRICSIAN 30.04.2014 12:34
Sanjay Saraf 30.04.2014 11:25
You mean the western world have a commitment to human rights and democracy?

...... but it is safe to say that we are also the only country outside the western world to
have a commitment to human rights and democracy.


arrow 30.04.2014 11:52
The negative reaction and anger (in the followers of Western hegemonistic ideology) ...by itself
is the evidence that they are frustrated by rise of a strong ,nationalistic party who can not be
bought or intimidated and is capable of an independent foreign policy. The enemies want a

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