Skip to main content

Isolationist? Modi's multi-alignment foreign policy 'designed by colonial, imperialist powers'

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*
After independence, India became the architect of the  Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which refused to join the warmongering, imperialist, and colonial power blocs in both their regressive and progressive forms. The idealism of the NAM revolves around principles of egalitarian coexistence, solidarity, peace, and harmony. 
Under India's leadership, NAM successfully united nearly 120 countries to oppose all forms of imperialism and colonialism during and after the Cold War. Newly independent Asian, African, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries adopted NAM's principles as part of their foreign policy to maintain independence from European colonialism and American imperialism. These policies were central to pursue independent economic and development policies focusing on people, peace and collective prosperity. 
India played a major role in transforming NAM into a united international movement against colonialism and imperialism, promoting an independent path of peace and development opposed to capitalism. NAM served as a platform for solidarity against all forms of colonial and imperialist wars, conflicts, and the polarisation of people and the planet. 
However, this principled movement has been undermined by directionless Hindutva street politics, which, in the name of upholding national interests, pursues a doctrine of multi-alignment or multi-vector foreign policy. Such an isolationist policy, pursued in the name of national interest, serves neither the interests of India nor those of the world.
Narendra Modi, the poster boy of Hindutva politics and the Prime Minister of India for a third term, continues to spend considerable time on foreign trips, engaging in public displays of affection by hugging foreign leaders and staging well-choreographed meetings with the Indian diaspora. A coordinated crony-capitalist media campaign portrays Modi as a global leader during his foreign trips. 
However, under the guise of protecting national interests, Modi and his government align with reactionary, Zionist, warmongering, and imperialist powers. In this way,  Modi has not only undermined India's national interests and the idealism of its foreign policy but has also tarnished India's NAM image as an anti-colonial and anti-imperialist leader among Asian, African, and Latin American nations.
The Hindutva supremacist politics and the carefully curated machismo leadership of  Modi have damaged India's relationships with its immediate neighbours and friends abroad. These neighbouring countries either distrust or fear India's dominant policy positions. 
Modi and his supercilious Hindutva politics are fundamentally responsible for creating this situation in the neighbourhood. The Hindutva leadership, with its myopic vision, has failed to consolidate the global goodwill India once enjoyed due to its historic anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and anti-war positions in world politics. 
There is an abundance of goodwill still exists for India and its people wherever one visits. However, Hindutva politics and its leadership have failed to identify and consolidate this goodwill by aligning with Zionist, colonial, and imperialist regimes in the name of national interests. 
There is no greater national interest than the goodwill of the people. Hindutva politics undermines this goodwill through its supremacist politics of hate. The ignominious Hindutva leadership and their myopic politics has ruined NAM, its relevance and significance in shaping world politics in the path of peace and solidarity.  
Colonial and imperialist powers in America and Europe have long sought to undermine  NAM and its collective strength to weaken countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Arab world. India was their best bait. Ultimately, Hindutva leadership has allowed Americans and Europeans to dismantle NAM, with India adopting a multi-alignment foreign policy. 
Hindutva leadership and its myopic politics has ruined NAM, its relevance in shaping world politics
This so-called doctrine of multi-vector foreign policy is an isolationist approach designed by colonial and imperialist powers to divide nations under the guise of national interest, thereby controlling their states and governments and hindering their ability to take independent positions in global politics.
The interests of India and its people can be consolidated through the revival of NAM as a collective foreign policy strategy aimed at deepening democracy, peace, solidarity, and shared prosperity. 
In contrast, multi-alignment and multi-vector foreign policies serve neither the interests of India and its citizens nor those of global peace. Friendships and long-term collaborations are not formed by following self-interests. It is formed on the basis of common idealism and long-term interests. 
The Hindutva led Indian foreign policy significantly affects Indian working masses in their everyday lives, especially when oil prices rise due to imperialist wars in Europe and the Middle East. Therefore, India needs a mass movement against the directionless Hindutva foreign policy to reclaim its anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and anti-war foundations, as shaped by the  NAM. 
Reviving NAM is crucial for countering the rising imperialism led by America and Europe. India and its citizens must play their historic role in reclaiming “peace and solidarity” as the core of their foreign policy and restoring NAM as an international peace movement.
Modi follows an individual-centric foreign policy shaped by his crony capitalist friends and his leadership comfort zone, influenced by the reactionary ideology of Hindutva politics. This Hindutva ideology and its European origin is concomitant with its Eurocentric values in politics which undermines the principles of NAM for deepening relationships with Yankee imperialism and racialised colonial Europe. 
These forces can never be trustworthy allies of India and its people. American and European leadership primarily represent the interests of their corporations and global capitalism, showing little concern for their own countries and citizens. Why would these countries and their ruling elites ever uphold the interests of India and its people?
---
*Scholar based in UK

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Kolkata dialogue flags policy and finance deficit in wetland sustainability

By A Representative   Wetlands were the focus of India–Germany climate talks in Kolkata, where experts from government, business, and civil society stressed both their ecological importance and the urgent need for stronger conservation frameworks. 
Post a Comment
»

'Fraudulent': Ex-civil servants urge President to halt Odisha tribal land dispossession

By A Representative   A collective of 81 retired civil servants from the Constitutional Conduct Group has written to the President of India expressing alarm over what they describe as the wrongful dispossession of tribal lands in Odisha’s Rayagada district. The letter, dated April 19, 2026, highlights violent clashes in Kantamal village where police personnel reportedly injured over 70 tribal residents attempting to protect their community rights. 
Post a Comment
»

Dhandhuka violence: Gujarat minority group seeks judicial action, cites targeted arson

By A Representative   The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat has written to the Director General of Police seeking judicial action in connection with recent violence in Dhandhuka town of Ahmedabad district, alleging targeted attacks on properties belonging to members of the Muslim community following a fatal altercation between two bike riders on April 18.
Post a Comment
»

Maoist activity in India: Weakening structures, 'shifts' in leadership, strategy and ideology

By Harsh Thakor*  Recent statements by government representatives have suggested that Maoism in India has been effectively eliminated, citing the weakening of central leadership and intensified security operations. These claims follow sustained counterinsurgency efforts across key regions, including central and eastern India. However, available information from security agencies and independent observers indicates that while the organizational structure of the CPI (Maoist) has been significantly disrupted, elements of the movement remain active. Reports acknowledge the continued presence of cadres in certain forested regions such as Bastar and parts of Dandakaranya, alongside smaller, decentralized units adapting their operational strategies.
Post a Comment
»

Why link women’s reservation to delimitation? The unspoken political calculus

By Vikas Meshram*  April 16, 2026, is likely to be recorded as a special day in the history of Indian democracy. In a three-day special session of Parliament, the central government is set to introduce a comprehensive package of three historic bills: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Delimitation Bill, 2026; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The stated purpose of all three is the same: to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Constitutional Amendment) passed in 2023. However, the political intent concealed behind these measures — and their impact on the federal balance — is far more profound. It is absolutely essential to understand this.
Post a Comment
»

From Manesar to Noida: Workers take to streets for bread, media looks away

By Sunil Kumar*   Across several states in India, a workers’ movement is gathering momentum. This is not a movement born of luxury or ambition, nor a demand for power-sharing within the state. At its core lies a stark and basic plea: the right to survive with dignity—adequate food, and wages sufficient to afford it.
1 comment
»

Catholic union opposes FCRA amendments, warns of threat to Church institutions

By A Representative   The All India Catholic Union (AICU) has raised serious concerns over what it describes as growing threats to religious freedom, minority rights, and constitutional safeguards in India, warning that recent policy and legislative trends could undermine the country’s secular and federal framework.
Post a Comment
»

Midnight weeping: The sociology of tragic vision in Badri Narayan’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan*  Badri Narayan, a distinguished Hindi poet and social scientist, occupies a unique position in contemporary Indian intellectual life by bridging the worlds of creative literature and critical social inquiry. His poetic journey began significantly with the 1993 collection 'Saca Sune Hue Kaï Dina Hue' (Truth Heard Many Days Ago). As a social historian and cultural anthropologist, Narayan pioneered a methodological shift away from elite archives toward the oral traditions and folk myths of marginalized communities. He eventually legitimized "folk-ethnography" as a rigorous academic discipline during his tenure as Director of the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute.  
Post a Comment
»