New Delhi: Foreign policy is one of the key areas where the Modi government has made a mark in the past year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself leading from the front and adopting a hands-on approach.
After the election results were announced mid-May last year when Mr Modi took the bold gamble of inviting Saarc heads of state/government for his swearing-in ceremony on May 26 in order to reach out to the neighbourhood. With Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif too agreeing to attend, everything seemed to be going well. But soon, there was trouble on the horizon.
After the Pakistan high commissioner decided to invite Hurriyat separatist leaders for consultations in New Delhi ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad last August, the Modi government promptly cancelled the proposed talks.
After a lapse of a few months, Mr Modi took advantage of cricket diplomacy to reach out to neighbours, including Pakistan, with foreign secretary S. Jaishankar going on a “Saarc yatra (tour)” to neighbouring capitals, including Islamabad.
But it was the engagement with the United States, which was perhaps the most important feature of the Modi government’s foreign policy. Mr Modi accepted the invitation of President Barack Obama to visit the US, which he did in September last year.
But the masterstroke of the Modi government was seen soon after, when the Prime Minister invited President Obama to be the first-ever US President to attend the Republic Day celebrations this year. President Obama’s visit led to the two countries breaking the logjam that had existed since 2008 on operationalising the landmark civil nuclear agreement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping too visited India last year including Mr Modi’s home-state of Gujarat.
Mr Modi, in turn, visited China just earlier this month during which he asked Beijing to reconsider its approach on some of the issues—an obvious reference to the border dispute—even as he announced CBMs such as e-visa for Chinese tourists.
Traditional friend Russia was not ignored either, with Russian President Vladimir Putin paying an official visit to New Delhi late last year during which Moscow declared that it would build at least 12 nuclear reactors in India in the next two decades.
As part of the Modi government’s “Act East” policy, Prime Minister Modi also paid a hugely successful visit to Japan last year. The Modi government has also projected Buddhism as a key link between India and nations in Southeast, east and central Asia. Visits were also made to friendly countries in the Indian Ocean region.
Similarly, as part of the “Link-West” policy, Mr Modi also visited France last month during which the important decision to acquire 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France through a government-to-government agreement was announced.
Closer home, newly-elected Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena made his first foreign visit to New Delhi in February this year.
Promptly, Mr Modi also visited Sri Lanka in March, taking care to include Jaffna in his itinerary, thereby signalling that the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils continued to be close to India’s heart.
Following the recent earthquake in Nepal, which killed thousands, the Modi government rushed aid to Kathmandu.
In order to further cement ties with yet another neighbour, Bangladesh, the Modi government pushed strongly for passage of the bill in the Indian Parliament to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement between the two countries.
Yet another recent swift proactive move that earned world-wide praise for its efficiency was the evacuation of thousands of Indians and foreign nationals by India from strife-torn Yemen in West Asia.
