India must review terms of South Asian engagements

October 8, 2024

NEW DELHI – In geopolitics, neighbours cannot be chosen and have to be managed. India, had, over the years, attempted to maintain ties with most of its neighbours. Unsettled borders with Pakistan and China ensured that two fronts would always remain active. With other nations in South Asia, India sought close ties, providing assistance and support when needed. India’s neighbourhood first policy, adopted in 2008, was aimed at winning over its neighbours while removing fears of New Delhi being a dominating big brother. The policy gained traction in recent years, especially as the Indian economy grew and the country began playing a major role in global politics.

PM Modi invited leaders of all neighbouring countries for his swearing in this year. He also met each of them individually. Under this policy India intended to develop friendly and mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours by being an active development partner. It provides soft loans and is involved in projects in these countries, largely benefiting communities. However, SAARC, a major initiative of South Asia, remains stalled due to the IndoPak dispute and Pakistan’s support to terrorism. In recent times, India’s big brother image has emerged as a stumbling block amongst the general population in neighbouring countries. The aims of adopting a neighbourhood first policy were multi-fold. Foremost was to counter the growing Chinese influence in South Asia.

This largely failed as all of India’s neighbours are part of China’s BRI (Belt Road Initiative). Second was to tackle separatist threats emerging from India’s neighbours. This also suffered a setback in recent years with the emergence of anti-India governments/weak governments in the