Vicious domestic politics, foreign policy shocks

News: Recently, India has faced unprecedented diplomatic backlash over the derogatory remarks made by the political leaders against Islam

What has been India’s foreign policy with respect to the Middle East?

India has been trying to build good relationship with the Muslim-majority states in the West Asian region, despite the growing anti-Muslim sentiments in the country.

Nature of India’s Foreign Policy

There is a larger binary that has been at the heart of the conduct of India’s foreign policy in the recent past.

India has been facing external criticism about shrinking democratic space and rising religious intolerance in the country while at the same time being a champion of democratic values at global platforms like Quad and Summit of democracies.

Implications of such incidents of extremism in India

Such extremism causes shrinking of India’s ability to manage its international normative identity along with ability to dismiss criticism against its own domestic failings.

Domestic extremism cannot prevail without external consequences. Interfering with extremism in India or anywhere is counterproductive. For example, India has learned important lesson from India’s relations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

At present, there is an increasing number of ‘fringe’ but extremist groups in India working against Indian Muslims.

How extremism in India is different from extremism in Pakistan?

Unlike Pakistan’s home-grown extremism which have spilled over as state-sponsored terrorism in India, extremist elements in India have focused domestically and contained within the country

Manifestations of extremism in India have never received any state patronage barring occasional tolerance by the ruling party. But, occasional tolerance boils over into spaces outside the borders. Therefore, it brings into picture foreign policy consequences. For example, India has received criticisms from the Islamic countries on its Kashmir policy.

There are various domestic checks and balances between various forms of extremism in India.

Why has India reacted differently to the criticism from the Muslim Majority States in the West Asia, from the US/West criticism on the treatment of Muslims in India?

Although, the Muslim-Majority states play more hypocrisy than the U.S./West. But still, India did not respond in the same manner

India’s refusal of the western/U.S. criticism does not attract much material consequences because these are advanced democracies. However, If India pushes back the criticism from the Islamic countries, these countries are more likely to impose arbitrary material costs on India or Indian citizens living in those countries. And India needs the middle east region for remittances, energy, and the well-being of Indian diaspora.

India and the West/U.S. need each other for a variety of reasons. For example, containing the China challenge. However, such inter-dependence does not really exist when it comes to India-West Asia relations. It can be said that India needs the West Asian states more than they need India.

Way Forward

The religious tolerance or pluralism forms important virtues in India as well as the Muslim-majority states in West Asia.

The vicious domestic politics has foreign policy implications. For example, in the present case, the government is now struggling to contain the diplomatic fallout. Therefore, domestic politics should be kept below boiling point, otherwise, it can have foreign policy implications.

The bilateral relationships are carefully built over decades by professional diplomats. These efforts are undermined by domestic communal politics, electoral calculations, hate speech. Thus, our internal matter becomes a matter of national interest.

There should not be any derogatory remarks against one religion or other, like Islam in this case.

India’s foreign policy has registered a number of achievements to its credit. But, the Indian leaderships should learn that India’s unconstrained domestic extremism can harm India’s foreign policy objectives.

Source: The post is based on an article “Vicious domestic politics, foreign policy shocks” published in the “The Hindu” on 9^th June 2022.