NEW DELHI – In a campaign video clip, India’s ruling party credits Prime Minister Narendra Modi for halting the Russia-Ukraine war two years ago so the government could rescue and repatriate nearly 20,000 stranded Indian students.
Indian elections are fought usually on domestic issues like prices, caste equations and allegations of corruption. Foreign policy is almost never a part of campaign rhetoric except for conflicts or tensions in the neighbourhood. “It’s more a change in style and rhetoric rather than substance, on which there is continuity in Indian foreign policy,” said Mr Ashok Kantha, a retired diplomat.resulted in New Delhi expelling more than 40 of its diplomats.
Challenging this narrative, the Congress in its manifesto has promised to “work to repair India’s international image that has been damaged by the present government’s intolerance of dissent and suppression of human rights”.Mr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s suave and sometimes acerbic Foreign Minister, is the person most identified with the country’s recent assertiveness on the international stage.
Mr Jaishankar, who is from India’s diplomatic corps and has been envoy to China and the US, has become Mr Modi’s chief spokesman for the world, and translator of foreign policy for the domestic audience.