by JOHN CHERIAN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a joint meeting of Congress in Washington on Wednesday last PHOTO/The Hindu
The contours of India’s foreign policy have changed significantly since Narendra Modi assumed charge as Prime Minister in May 2014. Without keeping Parliament in the loop, his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has virtually changed the country’s traditional non-aligned status. The pro-Western tilt, which began during the NDA’s previous stint and continued during the United Progressive Alliance’s two successive terms, has now become more pronounced than ever before despite India being a member of international groupings such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa).
So much so that the Barack Obama administration wants India to be given the exalted status of a non-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ally. For all practical purposes, India has become one. The Modi government is all set to sign the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) under a new acronym, LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement), with the United States. The agreement will allow American troops basing facilities on Indian soil in emergency situations. India has endorsed the U.S.’ position on the South China Sea and has tacitly supported the Obama administration’s military “pivot to the East”.
India has become a willing partner in the U.S.’ efforts to convert it into a “front-line” state in the looming military confrontation against China. The stated aim of the military planners of the U.S. is to have the ability to blockade China by cutting off Indian Ocean choke points such as the Malacca Straits. The U.S. and Indian navies have stepped up their collaboration in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and will now be cooperating in anti-submarine warfare in the next trilateral “Malabar” exercises, which also involves Japan. The exercises are due to be held in the Northern Philippine Sea adjacent to the South China Sea. India has also increased its military-strategic cooperation with Australia and Singapore, the other allies of the U.S. in the region. In the last week of May, Indian warships started exercises in the South China Sea.
The Defence Ministry stated that the Indian naval deployment was for “showing the flag” in a region that was of vital importance for the country. India has no maritime disputes with China and there has been no threat to the freedom of navigation from the Chinese side. The former U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jon Greenert, told the Foreign Policy journal that India’s moves in the Asia-Pacific region were “clearly” driven by the so-called threat posed by China. The U.S. Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, has gone on record stating that the Indian government believes that there is “convergence” between India’s “Act East” policy and the Obama administration’s military rebalancing to the East. The Modi government does not appear to have done a cost-benefit analysis on joining the alliance against China. The two countries that the U.S. is targeting militarily and strategically are China and Russia, both pillars of BRICS, which stand for a multipolar world.
Relations with Pakistan
India’s relations with most of its other immediate neighbours are on a downward spiral. Official-level talks with Pakistan remain suspended with little hope of serious bilateral talks starting any time soon. The Modi government’s foolhardy decision to call off Foreign Secretary-level talks a few months into its tenure has proved costly in terms of wasted opportunities. Pakistan is now ready to resume talks after the Modi government gave up on the condition that there should be no open interaction between the Hurriyat Conference and Pakistani diplomats based in Delhi. Modi made an unscheduled visit to Lahore earlier in the year in an effort to mend diplomatic bridges with his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif. But immediately after his visit, the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase happened, once again derailing the proposed talks. Both sides are now blaming each other for fostering terrorism.
The arrest of an alleged Indian spy, the retired Indian Navy officer Kulbushan Jadhav, in the restive Balochistan province of Pakistan in March has further complicated relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. Pakistan has accused India of involvement in low-level insurgency that has been plaguing the province for many years now. The Kashmir dispute continues to remain on top of the agenda as far as Islamabad is concerned despite New Delhi’s efforts to confine it to the back burner. Escalating incidents of terror and violence in the Kashmir Valley have brought the issue once again into the spotlight. On the positive side, incidents of cross-border shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) have shown a marked decline in the second year of the Modi government.
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