The fading of non-alignment

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141206/jsp/opinion/story_2219.jsp#.VIKWjzGUfb4

Harsh V. Pant

Non-alignment - now that's a word few have heard over the last few months coming out of India. Even as a battered and bruised Congress tries hard to reclaim the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, Narendra Modi is busy challenging India's grand old party on its own turf. He might not have been welcome at Nehru's 125th birth anniversary celebrations organized by the Congress, but he is likely to shape Nehru's legacy more significantly than many in India anticipate. And one of the legacies that Modi is gradually dismantling since coming to office is India's default foreign policy posturing of non-alignment. Moving beyond ideological rhetoric, Modi is busy engaging confidently with all major global powers without inhibition. Foreign policies of nations do not alter radically with changes in governments. But with the backing of the Indian electorate's decisive mandate, Modi today has an opportunity to bring about a realignment of Indian foreign policy priorities and goals.

In his first few months, Modi has defied many expectations and confounded his detractors and supporters alike. On the economic front, the government is only now coming into its own as its recent spate of decisions underlines. But on the foreign policy front, remarkably for a politcian who was considered provincial before the elections, Modi hit the ground running from the very first day. On the security front, there is a new, purposeful response to China with a focus on more efficient border management and defence acquisitions. Modi has reached out to the United States of America, in spite of the personal grievance of having had his visa denied by Washington, and there is a refreshing focus on immediate neighbours. The manner in which evacuations from Iraq were handled earlier this year as the threat from the Islamic State gathered pace showed a government that is operationally well-prepared. The Modi government has been more hard-nosed about Pakistan and is not backing down in face of Pakistan's escalatory tactics. So the larger picture that is emerging in the first few months is of a government that is not as risk averse as the previous governments and will be willing to take risks should the need arise.

With India's immediate neighbours, there are certainly signs that there is a new dynamism in bilateral ties as New Delhi is putting renewed emphasis on revitalizing its regional profile. India's neighbours, barring Pakistan, are certainly looking at India with a new feeling of expectation. Delhi now has to operationalize the aspirations that have been articulated. Recognizing that the implementation phase has always been a problem for Indian credibility, the Modi government is focusing on completing projects in its neighbourhood that are already in the pipeline rather than announcing new ones.

On its engagement with Pakistan, the Modi government has decided to take a gamble by resetting the terms of engagement. It is a move that was probably long overdue but it is not clear what India's options are should this gamble fail. Given Pakistan's internal turmoil, this perhaps doesn't matter in the short term but India needs a long-term policy that focuses on primarily managing the national security risks emanating from Pakistan. It would do great damage to Modi politically if his government is forced to talk to Pakistan once again, as in the past, under global pressure in the case of another Indo-Pak crisis.

Afghanistan will be a critical challenge with the departure of Western forces next month. India will have to articulate its own role more cogently. It has immense goodwill in Afghanistan that it can leverage. But that would mean stepping up its security role. Can the Modi government go beyond what the previous government has done on the security front? This will be critical as the Modi government has made the immediate neighbourhood its priority and India's reputation as a regional security provider will be under the scanner.

The biggest strategic challenge for India remains managing China's rise. The Modi government has concluded that the right balance between enhancing economic and trade ties with Beijing while building deterrent military might is the need of the hour. The visit of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to India in September turned out to be a damp squib and China may have lost an opportunity to generate goodwill with the new government. The Modi government is trying to increase its scope for diplomatic manoeuvring vis-à-vis China by building substantive ties with states like Japan, Vietnam, Australia and the US. Modi's visit to the US in September was an attempt to bring Indo-US ties back on an even keel after the disappointment of the last few years. India managed to put its defence ties with the US back on track after the previous Indian government's mismanagement.

Modi seems to be redefining the terms on which India is likely to engage with the world in the coming years. Pragmatism, coupled with a more confident assertion of Indian interests, is likely to be the hallmark. He is not shy of reaching out directly to new constituencies such as the non-resident Indians and business communities in other states. For India's friends, a new outreach is in the offing. For India's adversaries, new red lines are being drawn.

Most important, Modi is giving every indication that he has no time for the meaningless rhetoric of 'non-alignment'. He will work with anyone and everyone to secure Indian interests, the most important of which for him is to take India on the path of rapid economic growth. Foreign policy, in his worldview, is another instrument to serve India's domestic priorities.

For Modi and his government, however, the biggest challenge will be to move away from an overly personalized foreign policy towards a more institutionalized one, as also with national security decision-making. The personalized approach is a weakness that previous governments have failed to tackle. While Nehru built several institutions that have sustained Indian democracy for the last six decades, he left behind a tradition of personalized foreign policy-making. His successors failed to rectify that problem with much cost to the nation. It remains to be seen if Modi will succeed where others have failed.

The author is Professor of International Relations, Department of Defence Studies, King's College, London