In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited seven neighboring heads of state, members of SAARC, when he was sworn in as Prime Minister for the first time. The Prime Minister in his foreign policy stated the priority of 'neighbor first'.
Even in his first term, there was a lot of emphasis on relations with Nepal, but BJP's Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy has questioned this foreign policy. He has stated that it needs to be restored.
Former Foreign Secretary Shashank also says that foreign policy should be revisited without losing time. Shashank says that the episode in China, Nepal is like opening eyes. Pro. SD Muni also says that the relationship between Nepal and India is not going in the right direction.
What will happen if only by keeping a relationship with America?
Shashank says that we have a deep relationship with US President Donald Trump. It was widely publicized even during tensions with China, but now it has got all the soil. Read Trump's statement, he seems to have realized the reality.
So we should come out of this policy that if America is happy then everything will go well. We should keep in mind that we have to live with other neighbors and countries of the world including China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.
Former foreign secretary says that Pakistan understood this truth long back. He did not rely only on arms and money from America. Afghanistan also maintained the importance of the relationship with China.
Shashank says that he needs to reset the foreign policy for a long time. Now there is not even a soft corner like former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
How is India's relationship with neighboring countries?
After the introduction of Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Foreign Minister of the neighboring country Bangladesh postponed his visit to India as a protest. Nepal has passed the new map in its parliament and declared India's part as its own.
Continuing firing along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan, terrorist infiltration continues. The foreign secretary-level dialogue process between the two countries has been postponed since August 25, 2014.
The peace process has also suffered a major setback since 2015. China increased its military presence in 2017 in Bhutan, India, and China's trilogy region of Doklam. For this, there was a situation of confrontation between China and India troops for 73 days.
Since May 5, 2020, about 10-12 thousand Chinese soldiers have been mobilized in the Galway Nala (river), Pangong Tso, Finger 4 area in Ladakh. Some have retreated from the area, but ahead of Finger 4 and up to Finger 8 are preventing the Indian Army from patrolling.
This time, Chinese soldiers have brought heavy military vehicles as a deadlock. Military pressure has increased from Uttarakhand's Barahoti, Ladakh, Doklam, Sikkim to the eastern Arunachal border.
Its parallels are as much in common with Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Seychelles, Maldives, Myanmar as before. There is now peace, stability in the Maldives in favor of India. In all of this, however, Myanmar is a little annoyed.
What has Subramanian Swamy said
Subramanian Swamy has questioned the directive policy, asking the government questions. He has asked the central government by tweeting, what is it that forced Nepal to do this?
Swami questioned how Nepal could think of Indian territories? How did his feelings hurt so much that he (Nepal) wanted to break up relations with India?
Isn't this our failure? Foreign policy needs to be re-established.
On the question of Subramanya Swamy, Shashank says that India has a cultural and old relationship with Nepal. Roti-Beti is concerned, but it is a matter of thinking in the whole foreign policy that it takes less than 5 minutes for it.
Therefore, I agree with Subramanian Swamy. He said that the former RAW officer has written a book on the Indo-Nepal relationship. People should read. In the end, it is not a good sign to break ties with neighbors like Nepal.
How will the foreign policy be 'reset'
Shashank said that it is not so easy to 'reset' the foreign policy. How will it happen? Shashank says that this is an urgent demand, but for this, the government will have to take steps.
He will have to take the help of think tech. We have to think about it. A former foreign secretary who understood Nepal affairs under the UPA government, on the condition of anonymity, said that whatever is happening is very unexpected.
It is clear from the developments that India is not only losing its established recognition, but it is also shocking both credibility and strength at the international level.
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