Much of India’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands on solid ground due the foundation laid by two of his immediate predecessors – former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
India’s global diplomacy made a tectonic shift in its policy and outlook on the back of two major decisions taken by New Delhi in the 1990s – the liberalisation of India’s economy in 1991 – for which then finance minister Manmohan Singh is credited as the architect of India’s “most significant economic reforms”, and in 1998 when the nuclear test was carried out at Pokhran under the stewardship of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Today, India is regarded as a rising global power and many leaders have contributed greatly in this endeavour, but these were the defining moments from where modern India’s journey began.
India has now lost both these leaders. Manmohan Singh died late evening on Thursday, leaving a nation of 1.4 billion in mourning. “India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji,” wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tribute to his predecessor.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also grieved the death of the former prime minister. In his tribute, Dr Jaishankar wrote “While regarded as the architect of Indian economic reforms, he was equally responsible for the strategic corrections to our foreign policy. Was immensely privileged to work closely with him. Will always remember his kindness and courtesy.”
THE NUCLEAR DEAL – A WATERSHED MOMENT
Though his discipline was primarily finance and economics, Manmohan Singh was always known to have a keen interest in foreign affairs. This domain became an area of special focus when Dr Singh took the reins from Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004. Largely in agreement with the direction India’s foreign policy had taken since the Pokhran nuclear tests, Dr Singh continued to build on what the Vajpayee government had done thus far.
He understood the importance of creating India’s legacy as a responsible nuclear weapons state whilst securing a clean-chit from the Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG in order to build on India’s civil nuclear agreement starting with the United States. Securing the nod from the NSG was a watershed moment in India’s history.
When Manmohan Singh became the prime minister in 2004, S Jaishankar was the Joint Secretary (Americas) at the Ministry of External Affairs. In this capacity, Dr Jaishankar was deeply involved in negotiating the landmark India-US civil nuclear agreement and improving defence co-operation between the two nations.
Manmohan Singh picked S Jaishankar to be one of the key members to shape India’s nuclear policy and get the necessary clearances for nuclear cooperation with other countries too. For this, Dr Singh gave special clearance to Dr Jaishankar to have unrestricted access to the Department of Atomic Energy as well as the Prime Minister’s Office.
Under Dr Singh’s leadership, Dr Jaishankar worked and negotiated tirelessly to help India secure a clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, as well as set up the framework for the civil nuclear deal with America. The framework of the agreement was backed by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who was the President of India till 2007 – a year before the deal finally got inked.
For their role in successfully securing the deal, Manmohan Singh and S Jaishankar went on to be widely regarded as the architects of the India-US civil nuclear agreement. For the deal to become a reality Manmohan Singh had even staked the survival of his government in 2008.
On September 6, 2008, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) adopted a policy decision allowing civil nuclear cooperation between all its member states and India. This groundwork laid by Manmohan Singh was built up on Narendra Modi when he became prime minister in 2014.
Dr S Jaishankar went on to become the Foreign Secretary and then External Affairs Minister in the Narendra Modi government.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, today, besides the US, India has a civil nuclear agreement with France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, UAE, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Argentina, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka, and Namibia.
DIPLOMATIC POLICY
From the start, Manmohan Singh continued with Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s policy of ‘greater engagement’ – something that is followed even today by the Modi government – though the engagement with Pakistan no longer exists due to India’s firm policy that “talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand”.
The policy of greater engagement – a shift from the previously-followed policy of non-alignment – allowed India to build on its vision of a multi-polar world from a largely bi-polar world – the US and Russia during the Cold War, and more recently the US and China.
Strengthening this policy during his tenure as prime minister, Manmohan Singh gave emphasis to ties with the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan – countries which at that time were considered most critical for India’s foreign policy.
DIPLOMATIC CHALLENGES
Building on Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s legacy of trying to resolve differences with Pakistan, Dr Singh’s government engaged with three successive governments in Islamabad. Several noteworthy gestures of peace were sent, but all the efforts made by successive governments in India since 1999 went in vain after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
With China too, the Manmohan Singh government engaged with two different regimes, and considerable progress was made in maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control or LAC – the boundary between India and China. Several confidence-building measures were taken in order to maintain this, but there were still several incidences of transgressions by Chinese troops, one of some of them even led to temporary standoffs in the Ladakh region.
OTHER NOTEWORTHY CONTRIBUTIONS
Ties with Russia grew further and significant strides were made with regard to relations with Japan. Ties with Tokyo were elevated to the level of a strategic partnership. Dr Singh’s government also worked to build on India’s then over-a-decade-old ‘Look East’ policy – which we know today as the ‘Act East’ policy.
Under Manmohan Singh’s leadership, significant enhancements were made to India’s ties with African countries as well as Latin-American nations. This was built upon by PM Modi after taking office in 2014. Today, India plays a very important role as the “voice of the Global South”.