In a bid to be a global player, India can't ignore the region

At a time when it is being forced to reorient its entire foreign policy, the government needs to proactively pursue a regional strategy

- AJOY BOSE

The tragedy of India's foreign policy is that in its anxiety to project this country as a major global player, it has neglected its duty to first become a regional power. New Delhi displayed the same stunned disbelief and helplessness at this week's popular revolt ousting the Nepal government as it did when confronted with eerie replicas of similar outbursts of public anger led by youthful mobs that felled regimes in Bangladesh last year and Sri Lanka in 2022. All three are important neighbours of India, but an increasingly insular intelligence and diplomatic apparatus have in recent years repeatedly been overtaken by the cataclysmic events in our neighbourhood over the past few years.