India’s foreign policy or Modi’s?

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 three-and-a-half years that are not easy for many to swallow as India’s, rather than his.

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nears its fourth anniversary since joining office, it is safe to conclude that we have at its helm a Prime Minister whose foreign policy report card has largely been a tale of two unfortunate halves.

During the first two years, India had a PM who served as an energetic salesman abroad for the Government of India, but one whose credibility in itself increasingly fell 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? Moreover, worryingly there was inevitably a justifiable fear among many of us that these visits are merely ‘feel good’ aspects that mask growing troubles elsewhere and the serious lack of a cohesive foreign policy blueprint for the country.

This is, of course, leaving aside the fact that the “achche din” that were promised to the people of India also remain completely out of sight and the phrase has now silently been replaced by the equally vapid ‘New India’, an anachronism if at all. Lofty foreign policy pronouncements have helped divert attention from domestic concerns and preserved the image of Mr Modi’s India to a large extent, but even here a feeling of being let down has been mounting for some time. Even the most fervent sympathisers of the Prime Minister are now beginning to tire of the photo-ops and the “breaking news” stories of Mr Modi’s tireless travels abroad, seemingly with little connection to the needs of the aam aadmi at home.

For a government driven by (and drawing political capital from) its lavishly funded publicity machine, this is becoming a problem. India, as I have said often, needs to strike a balance between its hard power and soft power, and it is not the country with the bigger army that wins but that which tells the better story—and at the moment, the story Mr Modi and his colleagues in government are pitching to the world looks less and less convincing with every passing month. If foreign policy were merely a question of making fine speeches, then the Prime Minister would score top marks. But substance must follow grandiloquent oratory and unfortunately for Mr Modi, he has very little substance to show for his efforts abroad, and only a shipload more of promises to add to the titanic stock already piled high at home.