If Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister for the third term in June 2024, India will continue to expand ties with major powers, including the US and Russia, and will aim to become “Vishwa Bandhu” – a friend to the world, said eminent diplomats and experts.
The National Symposium on “New Directions in India’s Foreign Policy – Modi 3.0” focused on mapping the contours of India’s foreign policy under a potential Modi 3.0 government /the next government in India.
Prominent experts, who participated in the conference predicted a rise in India’s international order, the growth in GDP to $7 trillion and greater recognition of the country’s soft power as key goals of the potential Modi 3.0 government.
“Russia will continue to be an important partner for India. There will be a summit meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin in 2024,” Kanwal Sibal, India’s former ambassador to Russia and a former foreign secretary, told the conference. The last annual summit between the leaders of India and Russia was held in New Delhi in December 2021.
“Russia has begun to value partnership with India in a much bigger way than it used to be the case before. Earlier, there was a sense that it is India which needs Russia more,” said Sibal, also a former foreign secretary. “There is a genuine desire on the part of both India and Russia to increase trade and investment ties,” underscored Sibal, Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Going forward, Sibal said while India’s relations with Russia will grow in the next five years, India might begin to push back the US’ tendency to lecture, as was seen in critical remarks by US officials on the state of religious freedom in India.
Arun K. Singh, a former ambassador of India to the US, said that “the positive momentum” in India-US relations will continue under the next government in India regardless of whether Joe Biden or Trump wins the USA elections. He cited the China factor as one of the main reasons for the convergence between the interests of India and the United States.
“Relations with three major poles of the world – US, Russia and Europe – will continue to expand on separate trajectories,” said Manish Chand, CEO, Centre for Global India Insights, the organizer of the conference. “Looking ahead, India’s foreign policy, under Modi 3.0, will be driven and animated by the overarching goal of making India a great power that can hold its own amid competitive geopolitical rivalries,” said Chand.
Underlining the strategic importance of Russia for India, Amitabh Mattoo, Dean, School of International Studies, JNU, said: “Russia is the only P5 country to recognize India’s complete sovereignty over Kashmir.” India retains a degree of strategic autonomy, which was seen in how India managed its relations with Russia in the last few years, said Prof Mattoo.
Mattoo stressed on the emphasis in the BJP’s manifesto on making India a global power and “Vishwa Bandhu.”The main message of the BJP manifesto is making India “Vishwa Bandhu,” he said.
