Paper: GS – II, Subject: International Relations, Topic: India’s foreign policy, Issue: Issues with India’s foreign policy approach.
Context:
India’s foreign policy reflects a refusal of true realism. India avoids confronting the core problems of its diplomatic standing, instead settling for moral high ground and symbolic gestures.
Key Highlights:
Issues with current foreign policy stance:
Lack of Realism:
- India’s foreign policy is in a deep crisis, unable to ask hard questions.
- Driven by hyper-nationalism and media spectacle, it lacks strategic introspection.
- Government also fails to confront real geopolitical predicaments.
Need for Objectivity in Diplomacy:
- India lacks detached realism in assessing its global position and challenges.
- Former Foreign Secretary J.N. Dixit: “Approach the world in any given situation abstractly and ruthlessly, as you would even about your own country.”
India’s Isolated Stance on Global Issues:
- No global support or alignment on terrorism stance or strategic matters.
- India’s condemnations (e.g., of terrorism) are often ineffective due to lack of credibility.
- For example, After Operation Sindoor (2025), India lost the diplomatic high ground.
Hypocrisy & Double Standards
- India’s condemnation of violence lacks weight when its own internal religious issues are evident.
- For example, India criticizes religious persecution globally while being questioned over domestic incidents.
Nuclear Policy Misunderstanding
- Both India and Pakistan assume they can control nuclear escalation.
- However, any small move, like war rhetoric or cross-border strikes, risks triggering larger conflicts.
- India’s policy fails to consider the global diplomatic cost of these moves.
India-Pakistan Binary Limits Global Engagement:
- The India-Pakistan equation traps India in a diplomatic disadvantage: Wars, even justified, appear destabilizing.
- It makes India seem like a problem-maker for global stability.
Missed Opportunity in Ukraine-Russia Conflict:
- India failed to take a principled stand or show leadership on the Ukraine war.
- Global diplomacy demanded moral clarity, but India remained vague, risking loss of credibility.
Conclusion:
India’s diplomacy is content with symbolism over substance. It focuses on rhetoric, headline-chasing, and moral posturing, rather than solving strategic problems. Institutional weakness in the Ministry of External Affairs leads to confused and weak messaging.
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