Consequence of New Delhi’s One-sided International Policy

by Mansoor Ali

In the course of a plenary session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on June 23-24, 2016, India had made a concerted effort to join it; but that bid was rejected primarily due to objections to India’s application to that effect from the Chinese Government and also because of the unexpected support Beijing was able to enlist from Washington’s allies like Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and Turkey. It should be noted that the US had promised New Delhi to persuade its traditional allies to support India in its endeavour to join the Group; however, that obviously did not happen. It must also be understood that there were several instances in the past wherein Washington secured the support of these very countries by applying sufficient pressure on them whenever that was necessary for the US even if such a move came in conflict with those countries’ interests.

It goes without saying that New Delhi’s failure to enter the NSG has not only affected India’s prestige in the world arena but also helped the Opposition groups in the country to mount attacks on the Narendra Modi Government for its inability to secure international support on vital global issues.

In the light of this development and other similar cases it is worth reviewing the efficacy of New Delhi’s one-sided international policy based on cooperation with the US at the expense of relations with other states. There is a strong view that this policy does not meet our expectations but rather compromises India’s leading role in the non-aligned movement (NAM) before the developing world and impel our traditional allies like Russia and Iran to seek closer ties with China (whose interests do not necessarily coincide with ours on a range of questions).