Foreign policy was never discussed in our drawing rooms. Narendra Modi changed that too

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:

Foreign policy discussions never happened at home. We all just assumed that Prime Ministers will go abroad and have complicated discussions with other world leaders, and sign agreements that most of us would anyway not understand.

The first time foreign policy came into our drawing rooms was after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. Because PM Modi has begun to take these visits beyond the formalities of formal meetings and strict dinners. The warmth with which the discussions were held; the visits to few places that had an Indian connection; a huge address to the Indian diaspora living in that country/region; many meaningful MOUs signed – have spurred these discussions like never before.

For example, during his 2015 visit to France, he visited the Neuve Chapelle war memorial. I had personally never heard of this war memorial and I suspect many Indians hadn’t. I now know that this war memorial has been constructed as a tribute to the thousands of Indian soldiers who perished fighting valiantly on the battlefield, in World War 1. Mr. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit and pay homage at this memorial!

Assisting overseas Indians

Saudi Arabia was engaged in a war with Yemen. Thousands of requests were pouring in for helping out our citizens stranded in Yemen. With airstrikes in progress, there was no way passenger aircraft could be flown in. Prime Minister Modi spoke to the King of Saudi. An agreement was reached, that the airstrikes would be halted for 2 hours every day for 7 days – and that we could evacuate our people. Not only did we end up evacuating nearly 5000 of our citizens, but we successfully evacuated 2000 citizens of other countries including that of the US! Major news outlets around the world were flashing news as to how India has conducted these evacuation operations flawlessly.

This assistance has of course not been limited to Yemen or to only the strife-torn areas (though many Indians were bought back after being kidnapped too!). Using social media as an effective, nearly 2000 Indians overseas received assistance of various forms – all they had to do was to raise a query on twitter!

No More Pakistan centric

From reading in our newspapers, it always felt as if our foreign policy is always Pakistan centric. The very first act of Prime Minister Modi shattered this feeling. He had invited all SAARC heads of government to be present at his swearing-in ceremony (infact this very act gave us a glimpse into the innovative thinking of the PM). The renewed focus on working with all neighbours on an equal footing resulted in quite an advantage for India. For example, India and Myanmar conducted unprecedented Joint-Terror operations, over the course of the last 5 years. Sources indicate the elimination of 100s of terrorists who planned to disturb the peace of our North East! India and Bangladesh firmed up their Land Boundary agreement, that was pending for 60 years. Maldives, after undergoing a period of turmoil, finally elected Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed as President. Only one head of government was invited by Maldives – the Prime Minister of India! This is ample proof of how much backend support India must have given to bring in stability to the country. Everything in Foreign policy need not be advertised – the ends are enough for us to understand the means. 

Major role in building new alliances.

But then Foreign policy isn’t just about evacuating people from strife-torn areas. Neither is it limited to bilateral co-operation with neighbours. Whilst the massive success in getting 177 countries to co-sponsor the International Yoga Day took all the spotlight, this was definitely not an isolated instance of us gaining such support. There was an election to the International Court of Justice. India and UK were vying for one spot. UK was always a member of ICJ. A whopping 183 countries supported India’s candidature for a seat at the ICJ. This is also the first time that UK hasn’t been a member of the ICJ!

Prime Minister Modi has always been a huge proponent of using Solar energy. Little did we imagine though that during his tenure India will co-found (along with France) the most unique International Solar Alliance! This ISA was initially created so that all countries in between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn can become a part of this and have a meaningful outcome of generating and using solar energy. Today, the ISA has nearly 75-member countries, is headquartered in India, and is pioneering the usage of Solar energy across the world.

We had gained membership into the three major elite nuclear groups – MTCR, Wassenar and Australian Groups! We had also become a full time member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor once mysteriously tweeted that PM Modi hasn’t visited enough Muslim countries. This was in line with the general argument that BJP is a communal party. Shashi Tharoor had no reaction when recently the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) has invited India to be the Guest of Honor at their meeting. Pakistan’s threats of boycotting this meeting had zero impact on the organization. While India was at the high table, Pakistan’s chair was empty. The list goes on and on. An Africa-India summit in which all 54 countries of Africa were invited for the first time! The ASEAN-India summit where all 10 leaders of ASEAN were chief guests at our Republic Day event.

If these don’t count as an astounding success of our diplomacy, then what does?

World’s response post Balakot airstrikes

The massive support we received after we struck down terrorist camps inside of Pakistan is a great testimony and an apt culmination of Modi government’s phenomenal Foreign policy efforts - if this doesn’t count as an astounding success of our diplomacy, then what does?

The various awards the Prime Minister of India was honoured with

The Prime Minister of India was honoured with the highest civilian awards of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. The Prime Minister was awarded the prestigious Champion of Earth by the United Nations. He was awarded the Seoul Peace Prize by South Korea. These are not honours for an individual but are honours for the entire country. That these countries have found it fit to award our Prime Minister is indeed a matter of pride.

All this is fine. What use is Foreign Policy of if there are no investments?

Sushma Swaraj recently revealed an astounding fact – a record US $ 250 BILLION worth of FDI has come into India during the past 5 years. Two Hundred and Fifty BILLION dollars!

Investments were never limited to businesses alone. In Feb’ 2015, replying to the motion to thank the President, Prime Minister Modi told us that during his visit to Japan, he had discussions with Shinya Yamanaka, a Nobel Laureate, on how his research in stem cells can be used to control sickle cell anemia amongst tribals in Madhya Pradesh; He further told us that during his visit to Australia, they had discussions on using Australian research to increase the yield of pulses; and also on another Australian study that will help in increasing nutrition value in bananas!

Prime Minister Modi aided by the most able Sushma Swaraj has taken our Foreign Policy to an entirely new plane. They have made it accessible to the common citizen and therein lies their biggest success. A success that will be very difficult to emulate in their second term!