Policy of PM Modi Scripted to Secure the Indo-Pacific

India under PM Modi is ready to align with all countries, linking up with which will advance the interests of the 1.4 billion population of the country.

- M.D. NALAPAT

Firm direction and the setting up of guardrails to prevent mishaps have become clearly visible in the foreign policy designed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ably articulated by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. The 10-year US-India defence agreement, combined with the eight-day tour of the PM illustrates the direction of policy. The countries visited are each immensely significant in various ways. Portuguese-speaking Brazil and Spanish-speaking Argentina play a lead role in South America, a continent that has begun to acquire traction, including in but not limited to the Global South. Ghana and Namibia have the potential of displacing China as by far the lead exporter of Rare Earths, an item of critical importance in much of what we do. While the two African friends of India would each gain substantially from such a switch from China, so would India, by moving away from reliance on a country that is hostile to India. An innovation of our foreign policy is the effective setting up of a West Asia Quad comprising Cyprus, Greece and Armenia along with India. Such an alliance would pose a serious challenge to the efforts by President Erdogan to make China ally with Turkey, the lead power in a region of vital importance inter alia to sea routes. The IMEC (India Middle-East Europe Corridor) is also making headway, and in this the Arabian Gulf allies of India such as the UAE are playing a very helpful role. The India-US defence agreement is further proof of the wisdom of President Trump in choosing individuals capable of working jointly with India to secure the Indo-Pacific. In these ten years, at an accelerating pace during Modi 3.0 and 4.0, the PM will clean away the dirt being left behind by corrupt elements, who are carefully bei