India's foreign policy has witnessed a dramatic departure from the past, witnessed huge transformation and adroit change after 1991, felt observers taking part in a recent discussion on a book titled - "India's Foreign Policy - Past, Present and Future - authored by Dr. Sumit Ganguly, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University and currently holding that university's Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations.
Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram and former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who was one of four panelists taking part in the discussion organized jointly by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Oxford University Press (OUP), said India's foreign policy initiatives after 1991 were about projecting a conventionally superior India and to concretize its economic prowess and identity, especially during the time when Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao led a Congress plus allies government (1991-1996), and again during decade-long UPA regime under the leadership of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
To substantiate this contention, he cited the government's move to go forward on relations with Israel, Myanmar and China, as also the signing of a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States. He said he was less sanguine about the contribution of the first NDA regime of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (1996-97 & 1998-2004) to Indian foreign policy, and did not agree with the view that the 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests were detrimental to India.
In the present context, Tharoor said he was of the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has latched on to what he called the "Manmohan Doctrine", and was "using the mantra of investment to channel foreign policy and promote good neighbourly ties".
"India's foreign policy, however, was no longer woolly-headed idealism of the immediate post-partition period (1947-1964), and we must admit and acknowledge that there have been real achievements in the last 25 years," Tharoor said.
Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic and Strategic Affairs Editor of The Hindu opined that there were so many strands of thought in Professor Ganguly's book on India's foreign policy that they required listing. She said the book suggested that the 50s and 60s was period of both protection and consolidation of hardcore principles developed by India's then foreign policy practitioners, and was of the belief that these events of the past actually acted as turning points that " affected and changed Indian foreign policy."
Taking the argument forward, she asked, "Are there guiding principles to Indian Foreign Policy today?"
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Haidar said India needs to move quicker, and speaking from the perspective of the media, added, "There are very few media organizations covering foreign policy, and the problem of education on foreign policy is very real."
Accepting Ganguly's view that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation of India's foreign policy, she, however, said that the credit for its restructuring must most definitely go to Nehru's successor Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Reflecting on current Indian diplomatic initiatives, she had several questions, namely, (1) is change taking place under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? (2) Are we being more pragmatic and less principled in achieving our foreign policy goals? (3) Is India punching way above its weight and is it willing to exercise its strengths? (4) Is the world waiting for India to take/assume a leadership role globally, and will this be welcomed by the international community?
In sum, there was a need to know where India's foreign policy is headed, Haider said.
Journalist and political commentator Ashok Malik was of the view that Ganguly's book was at its best in talking about Nehru's contributions to Indian foreign policy, and should have been less generous about Indira Gandhi's contributions, adding that on the latter, the reader would not be persuaded. He was of the view that Gandhi could have charted her own foreign and economic policies.
On contemporary foreign policy initiatives, Malik said India's focus should be on China and developments in the Indian Ocean Rim region.
Professor Ganguly said his book's focus was on the four distinct phases of Indian foreign policy - 1947-1964, 1964-1990, 1991-1998 and 1998-2015. The first phase, he said, had four sub-features (a) nuclear disarmament and a period of high idealism, where an attempt was made by India to rework the world order but without much success (b) emphasis on multi-lateralism and global peacekeeping (c) concerted effort to delegitimize the colonial enterprise and (d) emphasis on low defence expenditure, which did not work out very well.
The second phase, he said, was about failing to find a coherent alternative to non-alignment, a period of strategic overdependence on the Soviet Union, inherent contradictions and attempts at global posturing with perverse consequences, a failed attempt at creating a new world economic order, and moral posturing which hurt India politically.
The 1990s was a period of steady and grudging acceptance of India's emergence as a power to be reckoned with, and the 1998 nuclear tests, could be said to be a defining moment, and finally, the fourth phase, which is marked by greater pragmatism and assertiveness towards a belligerent China and Pakistan, and a message, that India is desirous of good and healthy ties based on mutual respect, and this context, the January 2015 visit of President Barack Obama to India must be seen as a very significant event that must not be ignored.
In conclusion, the panelists were in agreement that Indian foreign policy urgently needed institutional build-up, a more well-informed media and academic community, a broadened horizon and a strategic focus on the Indian Ocean Rim region. (ANI)
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