Continuity was the guiding principle of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in choosing his ministerial colleagues and their portfolios as he took oath as the premier for a rare third successive tenure on 9 June. But the principle was very much in play much earlier when he invited the foreign leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

The composition of his council of ministers and allocation of portfolios underlined that Modi had picked up from where he left off after completing his second tenure in 2019. So, Modi was keen to signal that his foreign policy priorities in his third term remain unchanged.

The foreign leaders who attended Modi’s swearing-in on 9 June were Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay.

The geographical spread of the foreign invitees summed up the top priority of India’s foreign policy—neighbourhood first (South Asian countries) and the Indian Ocean (Mauritius and Seychelles)—underpinned by economic and security cooperation. Pakistan and Afghanistan were not invited for reasons easy to comprehend.

Modi had invited the SAARC leaders for his swearing-in in May 2014 and BIMSTEC leaders in 2019. This was the first time Hasina attended the oath-taking of Modi after having worked with him in the last ten years to take Bangladesh-India relations to an unprecedented height.

The presence of leaders from South Asia at the swearing in of Narendra Modi since 2014 amplifies that New Delhi’s bid to be a world power begins in its own neighbourhood. India’s neighbourhood first policy represents the stakes it has in strong and stable ties with countries of the region. It calls for India enhancing its political and financial investment to further build ties with its neighbours.

This is an area full of twists and turns which are best illustrated by the change of guard in the Maldives last year when President Muizzu rode to power on an India-out campaign.

It was mature on India’s part to invite Muzziu for Modi’s oath-taking despite the strain in Delhi-Male ties since Muizzu’s assumption of power on a range of issues.

India had no option but to pull out military personnel from the Maldives, as insisted on by Muizzu, even though they were deployed also on humanitarian missions like emergency medical evacuation from remote islets. India has decided to tackle upfront the differences with the Muizzu government instead of allowing the relations with the Maldives to be left uncared for just because of the divergences.  

Muizzu too appears to be navigating through the complexities of bilateral ties with increasing acknowledgement of the fact that the Maldives interests would be best served by engaging with India and not turning away from it. As veteran diplomat Vivek Katju once pointed out that India’s relations with its neighbours must have a template that can withstand the crises in bilateral ties and change of regime in the countries of the region.    

That Pakistan was not invited to Modi’s 9 June swearing-in was expected given the current state of relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. It shows the extent to which bilateral relations have plummeted since Nawaz Sharif, the then Pakistan Prime Minister, had attended the oath-taking event of Modi in May, 2014.

India’s relations with most of its South Asian neighbours have been prone to spells of rough edges on different issues in the last ten years. Therefore, it is only in the fitness of things that India’s neighbourhood policy under Modi’s new tenure got a fresh impetus with Hasina’s visit to India on 21-22 June.

Ties between no two other countries in South Asia have shone as bright as those between Bangladesh and India in the last one decade. Hopefully, the pull-aside meeting between Modi and Hasina at the banquet hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu on 9 June has cemented the resolve of the two leaders for another surge in ties including in new areas of cooperation. Hasina’s visit will provide an opportunity to discuss in depth a roadmap for the future of India-Bangladesh relations.
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The writer is a veteran Indian journalist