Confidence Without Alignment

Coming after Putin and ahead of the India—EU Summit, Friedrich Merz’s visit reinforces a reality the world is slowly accepting—India no longer chooses sides; it shapes outcomes

- PRIYA GUPTA

In a polarising world, New Delhi is signalling that strategic autonomy is not indecision, rather it is influence

When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrives in New Delhi in the third week of January 2026, the visit will be read not as an isolated bilateral engagement, but as part of a carefully sequenced diplomatic narrative. Unlike his predecessor Olaf Scholz’s coalition complexities, Merz’s conservative leadership post-May 2025 election promises a more decisive push on security and trade, contrasting Berlin’s earlier hesitations. Coming weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit and just ahead of the India-EU Summit, the timing highlights how India is consciously positioning itself as a power that engages across geopolitical divides without being constrained by them. In an increasingly divided world, the order in which leaders arrive in New Delhi often matters as much as the meetings themselves.

India’s strategic autonomy, often mistaken for hesitation, is in fact a deliberate and confident diplomatic choice. Rather than aligning with rigid blocs, New Delhi is expanding its room for manoeuvre by engaging multiple partners in a fractured global order. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly underlined, India’s foreign policy is guided not by blocs but by national interest, a principle that increasingly defines New Delhi’s global posture.

The digital conversation around Merz’s visit offers a revealing layer to this strategy. Social media discussions over the past weeks have not revolved around protocol or symbolism alone; instead, they have framed India as a country confident enough to host major leaders from rival geopolitical camps in close succession. Analysts, former diplomats, and strategic commentators online have repeatedly interpreted the sequencing from Moscow to Berlin as evidence that India no longer reacts to global power shifts but manages them.