Sensing that geopolitical winds may once again be changing direction, the Modi government executed some nifty U-turns at the New Delhi BRICS summit on 12-13 September. For the nonce, China and Iran seem to have replaced US and Israel as the seasonal flavours of our foreign policy.

Judging by photo-ops featuring Modi, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Masoud Pezeshkian et al, BRICS is still alive and kicking and India and China can be friends with benefits, so to speak. Iran has noted that Modi is keen to mend ties, and even though these words do not appear in the summit joint statement, in his opening remarks, Modi said we are “not against anyone; we try to take everyone along”.

For Modi’s propaganda machinery, this was a validation of his government’s policy of ‘strategic autonomy’ in foreign relations. The posture is: India talks to everyone, joins no camp and maximises its options. But to go whichever way the wind blows is not the same as ‘non-alignment’ even if you call it ‘strategic autonomy’.

And while the latest manoeuvres of India’s external affairs establishment may seem adroit, and big media sound gung-ho about the joint statement, the summit has once again exposed that India’s foreign policy is driven by short-term opportunism rather than a clear understanding of India’s long-term national interests.

In any case, strategic autonomy or non-alignment never meant equidistance from competing big powers. Rather it meant retaining the political, economic and military independence to take decisions in India’s sovereign interests rather than yielding to the demands of a big power. Multi-alignment can be a modern expression of that tradition, but successful multi-alignment requires consistency of objectives even when relationships change.

India’s relations with China in the Modi years are a good illustration.

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