Source: The post India must confront reality in foreign policy has been created, based on the article “A world of our making” published in “Indian Express” on 17th July 2025
UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper3- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context: India’s foreign policy is facing a deep crisis. While hyper-nationalist rhetoric dominates public discourse, there is little honest self-assessment. Behind the illusion of global influence lies a failure to embrace realism and an unwillingness to confront difficult truths.
Erosion of Diplomatic Standing
- Failure to Capitalise on Military Operations: After Operation Sindoor, India expected strong diplomatic support. Instead, it received generic condemnations of terrorism. While India believed it had a solid case, the global response showed indifference, highlighting a gap between India’s expectations and the world’s perception.
- Perception versus Projection: India’s self-praise contrasted sharply with what was said by others behind closed doors. The country’s diplomatic isolation stems partly from overestimating its moral high ground and underestimating how others view its actions.
- Lack of Objective Self-Assessment: Former diplomat Jagat Mehta advocated abstracting national identities to assess global situations more objectively. India’s refusal to view itself from an outsider’s perspective hampers honest reflection and effective diplomacy.
Moral Credibility Crisis
- Blurred Lines in Proxy Use: India’s alleged involvement in Balochistan is often used to counter Pakistan, but this undermines India’s position. It becomes difficult to distinguish between state-supported violence in Balochistan and Kashmir, damaging India’s moral case.
- Religion and Domestic Image: India’s global image suffers due to domestic issues involving religious targeting. This reinforces perceptions that South Asian violence is cyclical, even if this view is condescending. India’s actions, however, invite such generalizations.
- Double Standards on Global Issues: India’s silence on issues like Gaza weakens its global moral stance. If Ukraine is Europe’s problem, terrorism can be dismissed as India’s. Failing to call out global atrocities undermines India’s moral authority.
- Botched Global South Outreach: India’s inability to speak out on global justice issues and its clumsy handling of operations targeting Khalistan activists have led to a loss of credibility, particularly among Global South nations. Suppressing internal debate further harms India’s truth claims.
Flawed Approach to Realism
- Distorted Notions of Realism: Current foreign policy confuses realism with an inverted nostalgia. Instead of a clear-eyed view of the world, India pursues an imagined strength by trying to transcend its regional realities, leading to neighbourhood alienation.
- Dependence on the US: Overreliance on the US is seen as strategic strength. However, this dependence masks domestic weaknesses and ignores the true nature of American global ambitions. India’s political economy remains its only safeguard.
- False Hope in US Deals: Believing that deals with the US will solve internal issues or improve global standing is delusional. These assumptions prevent India from acknowledging the need for self-reform and strategic autonomy.
Institutional and Strategic Weaknesses
- Weakening of MEA Diplomacy: India’s diplomats are constrained by political and security leadership that prefers headlines over substance. Consequently, global responses to India’s diplomatic efforts are increasingly dismissive.
- Believing in Self-Created Illusions: A critical failure lies in the establishment believing its own propaganda. As one Chinese leader noted, while lying to the public may sometimes be strategic, lying to oneself is fatal. India’s foreign policy suffers from this exact flaw.
Question for practice:
Examine the factors contributing to the decline of India’s diplomatic influence and moral credibility in recent foreign policy engagements.
