Missing link

If only government had the political will to match the clarity of the PMs vision on foreign policy.

If only government had the political will to match the clarity of the PMs vision on foreign policy.

Addressing the annual gathering of the heads of Indias diplomatic missions on Monday,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid down five guidelines for the conduct of the nations foreign policy. These are: the creation of an external environment for national advancement; promotion of Indias economic globalisation,engagement with all the great powers; acceleration of regional integration; connecting Indias domestic values with the pursuit of external goals. The five principles may seem self-evident but are very different from the many impulses that guided Indias foreign policy in the past. Pointless international posturing,knee-jerk opposition to America,an insular economic orientation,cussedness towards the neighbours,and a disjunction between Indias political values and its international policies have long marked its often self-defeating foreign policy.

The PM has not divined these principles but distilled them from Indias changing foreign policy orientation since it embarked on

economic liberalisation a quarter century ago. Indias diplomatic pragmatism can be traced back to the pioneering efforts of Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Atal Bihari Vajpayee broke many taboos and laid the foundation for an interest-based diplomacy that transformed Indias nuclear policy,improved relations with the US and explored solutions to long-standing problems with Pakistan and China. To his credit,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought to advance Vajpayees foreign policy framework over the last decade.

Despite the bipartisan roots of this framework,building widespread support for foreign policy has turned out to be elusive. Part of the problem has been the Congress leaderships own ambivalence towards the changing foreign policy imperatives. It has questioned the PMs efforts to negotiate free trade agreements with the ASEAN and nearly pulled the plug on the historic civil nuclear initiative. The Congress has also been reluctant to back the PMs peace initiatives towards Pakistan and wary of a stronger partnership with the US. In opposition,the BJP forgot Vajpayees foreign policy legacy,and rejected many initiatives that were launched during the NDA rule. Meanwhile,state governments in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu,sensing the UPAs lack of resolve,have sought a veto over national policies towards Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and undermined the Centres right to run external relations. India has paid a high price for the foreign policy incoherence at home over the last decade,but the political class is not even thinking about it in the electoral season. What Delhi needs is a strong central government that can match the clarity of the PMs vision with the political will to build a new national consensus. Good ideas,after all,are not a substitute for purposeful leadership.