India's diplomatic space may shrink as govt picks hardline political agenda

The government's decision to push through controversial political measures as economic challenges rise risks upsetting India's bargaining power with the world

In its second term in office, the BJP government has used its even larger parliamentary majority to push through significant but controversial political measures as economic challenges rise. It has been hesitant in implementing overdue economic reforms though.

Despite protestations to the contrary, the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the projection of the Supreme Court judgement on Babri Masjid as validating the BJP’s stand on building a temple at the site of the demolished mosque, and now the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which excludes Muslims from availing Indian citizenship as “persecuted minorities” from Pakistan, Bangladesh and