ALIENATION OF INDIA

Tired of Trump’s regular boasts of having been instrumental in stopping the India-Pakistan conflict and his continuous sermonizing to India to stop buying oil from Russia, Modi may have decided to avoid meeting the mercurial US President

- Malay Mishra

M Modi’s inexplicable absence from the ASEAN and EAS Summits in Malaysia (Oct 26-29), particularly in view of the rapidly evolving global relations in a multipolar world, has been viewed as a matter of concern among foreign policy analysts as a step-back of India’s personalized and upfront diplomacy.

While some commentators have normalized the PM’s absence as his preoccupation with domestic commitments, others have belied such assumptions in view of his several visits to countries in Asia, Europe and South America during the year. With both US and Chinese Presidents making marquee appearances which they did sidelining India’s role in the Global South (and by extension its Act East policy), India was left out of reckoning when its role as an alternative to China’s primacy in the region was much sought.

It’s ironic that while an elaborate Maritime Security Week was organized by the defence forces in Mumbai in the context of GOI’s declaration of 2026 as the Year of India-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation, the PM’s absence from the most consequential event was lost sight of. Instead, Modi in his virtual address to the 22nd India-ASEAN Summit reaffirmed support for ASEAN centrality and Indo-Pacific cooperation. Even though India had announced the Quadrilateral summit to take place this year in India, the matter was not raised at all though all the Quad leaders were there.