Speaking to nation’s military top brass on board the largest aircraft carrier of the country, Vikramaditya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unrolled his lofty and multi-dimensional vision of India of his dreams. Prime Minister has been so precise and so incisive in delineating India’s defence and foreign policy. To the nation and to the world at large, he has given an insight of what India can be and should be in days to come. Bidding farewell to country’s traditional pusillanimity about defence preparedness and relations with neighbours, which usually ran against the larger interests of the country, Prime Minister Modi has chartered the new path for India and her future leadership. Long back in the first phase of our independence, there was a time when the then Prime Minister had rebuffed his army chief for asking adequate allocations for defence. He had disarmed the Commander by asking against whom was India going to fight. Today, six decades later, Indian Prime Minister Modi tells his Commanders that India will fight against terrorism and will never drop its guard on security notwithstanding challenges and barriers in the path. In fact, India has been fighting terrorism single-handed in its various manifestations for last two decades and half while the world community kept on exuding sadist smiles. It is only now that the West has realized the Damocles sword hanging on their heads. More recently, 31 Islamic countries have entered into a military alliance of sorts under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, declaring that they will fight against the rising crescendo of terrorism unleashed by IS. It was recently in the G-20 meet in Anatoly in Turkey where Modi had called the world powers to come together and fight terrorism collectively.
Touching on Indo-Pak relations in passing, Modi said that the benchmark of India’s foreign policy was strengthening of peace and good friendly relation. It is India’s basic approach to her relations with Pakistan. Therefore India’s willingness to revive comprehensive talks with Pakistan was fully in line with the fundamental principle of her foreign policy. However, Pakistan’s validity of response depends on what concrete and positive steps she takes in dismantling her terrorist structure working against us. Saudi Arabia has included Pakistan in the list of 31 Islamic States entering into military alliance against terrorism. It will have to ensure that Pakistan does not remain sanctuary for terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed, Dawaood Ibrahim and Salah-ud-Din.
PM Modi’s address to the Commanders is the first direct expression of India’s desire of striking balance between her security imperatives and philosophy of good neighbourliness. He has the vision of not only capacity building of armed forces, but also creating indigenous production technology and centers so as to become self-sufficient in military equipment and thus wriggle out of pinning down enormous amounts of money to the purchase list of Defence department. India’s security covers all the three branches, land, air and sea. A breathtaking programme of upgrading country’s internal and external security apparatus, and especially security of her borders, is now in place. It has numerous facets, and railways and road connectivity right up to the farthest military post on the border is part of new security policy. Modi wants an Indian soldier not only professionally better equipped but also better educated, better informed and better sensitized.
Although the Prime Minister meticulously avoided making any reference, covert or overt, to the domestic policy, yet given the axiom that ‘a country’s foreign policy is the extension of its domestic policy’, we have no difficulty in understanding that Modi’s vision of our foreign and defence policy is essentially based on our domestic policy of strengthening and stabilizing our economy and widening the scope and sphere of our trade and commerce. India has already weathered the rough international financial crunch and is well on the road to recovery of financial losses we had to face. A very significant achievement of Modi’s administration is his highly successful foreign investment policy. More and more countries and business houses are showing interest in investing in India. The more recent example is of Japan. Prime Minister Abe of Japan was recently on an official visit to our country. He has committed 7 billion US dollars investment in Indian industries. It means that Japan, a highly industrialized country in the Asian Content, is satisfied with the capability of Indian entrepreneurs and policy planners of absorbing the huge investment it has made. Our relations with Gulf countries have opened a new leaf. And, same is true about our relations with Central Asian States. Only a couple of days back, India along with Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, signed the establishment of TAPI gas pipeline which will be a landmark in India’s relations with the countries in Central Asian region. If good relations grow and mutual trust is strongly established, it should be no wonder that India gets the benefit of surface connectivity with Central Asian States via Pakistan and Afghanistan. Modi specifically made mention of Iran saying that Indo-Iran relations have opened a new chapter. Iran is crucial to our economy and strategy of peace in the region. At present we are able to reach Central Asia and Trans-Caspian region only through Iranian seaport of Chah Bahar in the Persian Gulf. Our relations with Iran have to be multi-faceted because India and Iran both need maritime security of their coasts and countries.
PM Modi’s address to the Combined Commanders Conference is historic and loaded with insights into his futuristic vision of India as the Asian giant. Certainly in some aspects it is deviation from the fossilized policy of the past. It reverberates with vitality and optimism and infuses new blood in the veins of the nation. It harkens us to a great and glorious role that our country will be called upon to play in near future.
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