India’s foreign policy should be dictated by national interest and security alone rather than be a prisoner to any ‘Left ideology or vote bank politics’ and it shifted from ‘diffidence to confidence’ the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to cross the borders after the Uri incident and later, during the Balakot airstrikes, asserted Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar on Tuesday.
Delivering a talk on “Foreign Policy the India Way: From Difference to Confidence” organised by the Forum for Nationalist Thinkers, Mr. Jaishankar, in his typical manner, tore into the foreign policy record under the erstwhile Congress governments starting from Prime Minister Nehru for not having “clarity on national interest” but going blindly against the West which is “refusing to see basics of diplomacy”.
Mr. Jaishankar also traced the CAA – Citizenship Amendment Act (without naming) — to past Nehru-Liaquat pact towards protecting minorities post-Partition riots. The Modi Government was only “correcting a mistake of giving people rights, but we are accused of taking away rights” even after everyone is aware about the minorities plight there, he claimed.
