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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives after his Europe visit, in Delhi. (PTI)Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s short and productive swing through Germany, Denmark and France this week underlines the belated realisation of the immense possibilities for an enduring strategic partnership between India and Europe. The past ideological dualisms of India’s foreign policy — East versus West, North versus South — left little room for substantive engagement between India and Europe in the first decades after Independence. The end of the Cold War and India’s economic reforms did produce new possibilities for building a solid partnership in the 1990s. But the old inhibitions in Delhi continued to limit its engagement with Europe, and the bilateral relationship continued to dither. The government of Narendra Modi deserves credit for moving towards cracking the European code. It devoted significant political and diplomatic energies for breaking the prolonged political stasis in India’s European diplomacy. It is entirely unsurprising that the rewards have begun to come through — whether it is in enhancing economic partnerships or deepening security cooperation with key European nations. Even more impressive is the successful alignment of European strengths in technological innovation, clean energy, and green growth with the significant Indian needs in these vital sectors.
On the face of it, the war in Ukraine seemed to hark back to the old East-West paradigm of the Cold War. India’s reluctance to condemn Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine seemed a deal-breaker at a time when Moscow launched a war in the heart of Europe. Through PM Modi’s visit, there has been a conscious effort by both sides to narrow the differences and better appreciate the concerns of each other on Ukraine. India and Europe have also begun to find some common ground on addressing the humanitarian and other consequences of the war. In the past, the tension between mitigating climate change and India’s pressing imperative of economic growth was seen as part of an irreconcilable North-South contradiction. The European enthusiasm for partnering India on sustainable development during Modi’s visit underlines the virtue of approaching climate change and growth on the basis of pragmatism rather than ideology.
As is his wont, Modi also spent time with the growing Indian diaspora in Europe. Besides the PM’s political interest in mobilising the diaspora, there is a new Indian emphasis on “migration and mobility” agreements that address an important conundrum — Europe’s need for foreign professional talent (India has it in plenty) and its growing fear of illegal immigration. Successful implementation of this framework would significantly advance the construction of a new living bridge between India and Europe. Arguably, the most significant outcome from Modi’s European visit is the big shift in India’s thinking on how to build a multipolar world. In the mid 1990s, India wanted to get there in collaboration with China and Russia. As Beijing builds a Sino-centric and unipolar Asia, and Russia aligns itself with China, Europe may have emerged as India’s natural partner in building a multipolar world.
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