India’s Changing Foreign Policy: More Muscular, Pushing Back Unwarranted Overtures

The grammar of India’s foreign policy has changed, the Modi government has changed that.

India’s foreign policy is now muscular and three recent developments prove this contention.

A British Labour MP Debbie Abrahams has been in the news lately. Some of her tweets slamming the Indian government have been making headlines.

Abrahams claims she was denied entry into India despite having a valid visa. She says she was visiting India to meet her relatives but was stopped. She later tweeted an image of the visa which had been granted to her.

The Indian government has categorically countered this claim by releasing details of the cancelled visa.

Abrahams was issued an e-business visa in October last year for business which was valid till October 2020 but was revoked on February 14 because she was reportedly indulging in activities which were against India’s interests.

The home ministry says the British parliamentarian was duly informed, yet she arrived in Delhi and demanded a visa on arrival.

The question remains – did Debbie Abrahams come to India as a friend or a foe?

On February 4, the Pakistan High Commission in London organized a seminar to attack India on Kashmir. Besides the Pak High Commissioner, those in attendance involved the President of Pak Occupied Kashmir Masood Khan and Abrahams.

Abrahams was also scheduled to travel to Islamabad after her India visit.

From the India side, the message is loud and clear, any attempt to attack India’s sovereignty won’t be tolerated.

In another example, the government of India on Monday summoned Turkey’s envoy to India a day after Turkish President Erdogan visited Pakistan and compared the situation in Kashmir with the Gallipoli campaign of the second world war.

India responded firmly to this far-fetched comparison.

Yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that “India made a strong demarche with the Turkish government. This recent episode is but one more example of a pattern of Turkey interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. These remarks reflect neither an understanding of history nor of the conduct of diplomacy.”

There’s high-pitched rhetoric around Kashmir. The issue is invoked unfailingly in almost all forums where India is represented. Pakistan remains hyphenated, it dominates most questions aimed at India.

Something similar happened during the ongoing Munich Security Conference. US Senator Lindsey Graham had some an advice for India on how to resolve the Kashmir conflict in a style typical to US diplomacy.

The response by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar should settle the debate once and for all.

India will not compromise on Kashmir and will push back on unwarranted overtures.

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Source: WION

Image Courtesy:The Indian Express

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