Miller in Foreign Policy on India’s Foreign Policy
Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent article on the continuity of ideas in India’s foreign policy even under the current BJP government.
Miller’s article, entitled “India’s Narendra Modi Isn’t a Game-Changer,” was published in Foreign Policy on September 24, 2019. From the text of the article:
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Houston before a crowd of around 50,000 cheering attendees. If that weren’t enough of a triumph for a foreign leader visiting the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump joined him on stage in Texas.
The fact that the event was titled “Howdy, Modi,” with the spotlight pinned firmly on the prime minister rather than the country he represents—or even on Trump, who loves nothing more than an adoring crowd—is telling. It encapsulates the meteoric rise of a leader who until just five years ago had been banned under the U.S. Congress’ International Religious Freedom Act from setting foot in the United States. His strongman, globe-trotting, leader-hugging image, and his appeals to religious nationalism and populism, all stand in contrast to his rather less colorful political opponent, Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress party.
It is commonplace to argue that the rise of Modi and his party, the right-wing, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marks the grim demise of India’s own grand old party, the Congress party; the Nehru-Gandhi family that has led it; and its vision of India as a secular and nonaligned world power. But that isn’t quite right. Even under the BJP, many aspects of Indian foreign policy today still lean on old, institutionalized ideas of India’s role in the world. Beyond that, it is incorrect to think of previous Congress governments as monolithic in their viewpoints and strategies. In turn, it is a mistake to see a dichotomy between the foreign policy vision of India under Congress and India under the BJP today. In many ways, there is much continuity.
As independent India’s first prime minister, Congress party leader Jawaharlal Nehru was also its most powerful. Nehru was not simply a prime minister; when he came to power, he was already a towering figure in India’s nationalist movement, with both national and international name recognition. His standing allowed him to take over the role of India’s foreign minister as well. As the Cold War unfolded, it was clear that Nehru was going to be an agenda-setter whose views would dominate India’s perception of its place in the world for decades to come.
Manjari Chatterjee Miller is Associate Professor (with tenure) of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. She works on foreign policy and security issues with a focus on South and East Asia. She specializes in the foreign policies of rising powers, India and China. Her book, Wronged by Empire: Post-Imperial Ideology and Foreign Policy in India and China (Stanford University Press, 2013) argues that the bitter history of colonialism affects the foreign policy behavior of India and China even today. She is currently working on rising powers, and the domestic ideational frameworks that explain their changing status.