PM Modi successfully de-hyphenated India from Pakistan, democratised national foreign policy: Nadda

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led India’s successful de-hyphenation from Pakistan, democratised the national foreign policy and given the country a voice at all major international fora from G 20 to G7, BJP president JP Nadda said on Wednesday.

Speaking after launching a Wisdom Tree publication, ‘Modi Shaping a Global Order in Flux’ at Sushma Swaraj Bhavan here, Nadda said India under Modi had emerged as an empowered nation which no longer “shies away from taking hard positions on global issues” and a nation whose decisions to launch “surgical strikes after the Uri attack and Balakot air strikes after the Pulwama attack were appreciated”.

“Today even a vegetable vendor discusses international issues and feels proud that India’s global acceptance is rising,” said Nadda reiterating the point that “the PM has democratised the foreign policy”.

The point was first made by BJP foreign affairs cell chairman Vijay Chauthaiwale in his brief opening remarks about the book when he said, “Indian foreign policy was no longer the remit of Lutyen’s Delhi, or people who speak high accented English and were suited-booted.”

The book has been co-edited by Chauthaiwale and ambassadors Sujan Chinoy and Uttam Sinha.

While noting how Modi had practised a foreign policy of reviving ties with traditional allies and visiting nations not visited for decades; build new friends and sent a tough message to adversaries, Nadda attacked the Congress for allowing India’s foreign policy to be held hostage to domestic vote bank politics.

“They never visited Israel on account of vote bank politics at home. It is only PM Modi who by visiting Israel and Palestine separately sent a message that we are capable of handling both nations,” said Nadda.

The BJP chief said that before 2014 (the year Modi began his first term as PM), the economy was declining, India had the image of a corrupt state, repeated terrorist attacks were happening, there was lack of a stable government and the then prime minister’s authority was eroded to the detriment of India’s global image.

Nadda said PM Modi took over in difficult times and navigated foreign affairs in the best possible manner with his stand on the Russia-Ukraine war respected all over and the world’s approach of looking at India had changed.

The book which, Nadda said, would trigger a debate on how PM Modi is impacting the global order, is a compendium of 25 essays that capture the journey of India’s foreign policy since 2014, including India’s response to covid, its self-reliance in defence sector, its push to exports among other issues.