From chanakya to modi evolution of india’s foreign policy

Foreign Affairs
article Indira spoke
of the need to destroy ‘past colonial feudal structures,’ stay away from
‘spheres of influence’ and safeguard India’s independence as well as
maintain global peace. 
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That the legacy of anti-colonialism still framed
India’s foreign policy long after Independence can be seen in Indira’s

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speeches that referred constantly to the fears of colonialism and
neocolonialism, the desire for economic autarky and aversion to the cold
war blocs.
Like Nehru, Indira also tried, but failed, to reconcile India’s claims to
moral ascendancy with the realities of global power politics. According to
Mansingh, Indira remained preoccupied with the question, ‘how to be
strong enough to prevent encroachment on national interests by outside
powers and yet avoid intimidating small neighbouring states by an increase
of power’. It did not help that there was disagreement on the proper status
of India in the world.
‘Was India a small power to be treated as a pawn in international politics
because of its low per capita income?’ Mansingh asked. That was not the
only fully unanswered question though. ‘Was India a middle power by
virtue of its size, capability and the middle position it occupied between
competing blocs? Was India a regional power because of its strategic
location and historic position in southern Asia? Or was India an emergent
great power in aspiration and perhaps in fact?’
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Some of these questions
facing Indira still remain issues in India’s foreign policy debate.
Indira tilted the scales of the ‘morality or power’ debate in favour of
power. She also had a lasting impact on the organizational conduct of
foreign policy. Indira followed Shastri’s lead rather than her father’s
tradition by appointing a cabinet member as minister for external affairs.
Subsequently, all prime ministers, with the exception of Inder Kumar
Gujral, always appointed an external affairs minister and, if needed, held
the portfolio themselves only for short periods of time. (Gujral, who served
as prime minister briefly in 1997–98, saw himself in Nehru’s mould and
tried to run foreign policy directly from the Prime Minister’s Office.) The
influence of prime ministers on foreign policy remained profound even in
the presence of a cabinet minister wielding the external affairs portfolio.
ECLIPSE OF COLD WAR POLITICS

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Indira Gandhi led India in military victory against Pakistan and adopted a
more robust posture in fighting various insurgencies within the country.
Building Indian military might alongside its claim to higher moral ground
in the cold war became essential elements of Indian foreign policy. Indira’s
assassination in October 1984 resulted in the passing of the leadership
mantle to Nehru’s grandson and Indira’s son Rajiv Gandhi, who was chosen
prime minister at the age of forty-four with little previous political
experience. The third prime minister from the Nehru-Gandhi family left his
own mark on India’s external relations at a time when the cold war was in
its last stages.
Rajiv had entered politics in 1980, after the death of his younger brother,
and Indira’s heir presumptive, Sanjay Gandhi. A former airline pilot, Rajiv
soon became general secretary of the Congress party and was one of his
mother’s close aides for the next four years. Dixit argues that even though
Rajiv ‘came to power without any discernible or direct experience or
knowledge of politics’, he ‘could legitimately claim absorption of general
information and experience’ from his grandfather and mother.
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 In her book
on Rajiv’s years in power, American writer Kathleen Healy made a similar
point. She wrote that Rajiv ‘lived with and learned from Nehru, his father
Feroze Gandhi and his mother Indira Gandhi all of whom lived and suffered
for India. Rajiv’s personal knowledge of history has been and is a lived
experience.’ 
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Before being thrust into the office of prime minister, Rajiv had overseen
the functioning of the foreign affairs cell of the Congress party and had
travelled around the world often with his mother. As prime minister, Rajiv’s
views on foreign policy reflected Nehru’s idealistic and moralistic streak
combined with a streak of pragmatism inherited from Indira.
In a recent book Srinath Raghavan argues that the ‘incipient shift in
foreign policy’ under Rajiv ‘stemmed from a conjunction of external and
internal factors’. 
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Rajiv ‘recognized the importance of foreign policy in

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furthering his domestic objectives’ 
98
 as he spoke of the need to ‘build for
an India of the twenty-first century’. 
99
 In his speech soon after his mother’s
assassination, Rajiv laid out the key principles of his foreign policy which
reflected Nehruvianism by emphasizing non-alignment, anti-colonialism,
adherence to multinational institutions like the United Nations and a desire
for good relations with all countries. ‘Jawaharlal Nehru bequeathed to us a
foreign policy,’ he said, adding, ‘I shall carry it forward. I reaffirm our
adherence to the United Nations, to the Nonaligned Movement and to our
opposition to colonialism, old or new … We have always been friends with
East and West as they are called and we want better relations with them.’
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A year later, in New York Rajiv stated that the basic principles of India’s
foreign policy were ‘a logical outcome of our own experiences, needs and
aspirations’. To him, standing with oppressed peoples was still important, as
was the desire to resolve issues through peace. The streak of independence
was important because India ‘will not be a camp follower’. Sounding like
Nehru, Rajiv stated in an interview on an American news show: ‘We take a
stand which is right.’
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He also made it clear that he was seeking to create a
balance between tradition and modernity. In his address before a joint
session of the United States Congress on 13 June 1985, Rajiv spoke about
India being an old country but a young nation. He emphasized the ‘firm
foundations’ laid down by modern India’s founders on which the future
would be built. He spoke of the goal of a ‘strong, independent and self-
reliant’ India.
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Rajiv’s pragmatism was reflected in his desire to improve relations with
Pakistan and China. In a speech given two weeks after the assassination of
his mother, Rajiv emphasized that for him the first requisite for India’s
march forward was ‘peace with our neighbours’.
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In his inaugural address
at the annual South Asian Association for Regional Conference (SAARC)
Summit in 1986, Rajiv emphasized the importance of the geographical,
historical, religio-cultural and ethnolinguistic ties that bound the various

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South Asian countries. He spoke of the need to increase interactions so as to
boost each other’s resources. Interestingly, Rajiv cites Kautilya and justified
SAARC on the grounds that the 
Arthashastra
spoke of the importance of
having friendly neighbours.
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When Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister of Pakistan after the
death of military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in 1988, Rajiv’s hopes for
peace with Pakistan were raised. Both Rajiv and Benazir were post-