Behind the Mask

There is a pressing need to map the gaps between branding claims and effective achievements on the foreign policy front, based on the parameters set by the Modi government itself

- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

In a social media post on March 10, India's ruling force, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “boosting India's global stature” and leading the country with “unmatched global recognition”. The conferring of “20 prestigious international honours” upon him reflect “not only his leadership, but also the rising stature of 140 crore Indians on the global stage.”

In short, Modi, by winning friends, awards and accolades around the world, posing with heads of states and governments, has brought pride to 140 crore Indians. Every Indian has their stature raised globally and Indians should be proud of what Modi has been doing abroad.

In exactly two months—May 10—clippings from a 55-year-old video flooded India’s social media sphere, ostensibly to demonstrate before India’s Hindu nationalist ecosystem how an Indian Prime Minister is expected to deal with foreign powers.

“Times have passed when any nation sitting three or four thousand miles away could give orders to Indians on the basis of colour superiority to do as they wished,” Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was heard telling in that 1971 message to US President Richard Nixon. Modi's critics highlighted how Gandhi went ahead with the war to bifurcate Pakistan, defying warnings from the US and China.

That day, May 10, US President Donald Trump caused PM Modi one of the latter’s greatest embarrassments. He not only announced the Indo-Pak ceasefire before India did, but also claimed credit for getting the two warring sides to stop firing at each other, that too by using trade prohibition threats.