India is facing quite a few embarrassing moments on the diplomacy front, of late. The abrupt Chinese offensive in Ladakh region has hurt India badly. To add insult to injury, Nepal is sending all the wrong signals, with a vengeance of course. Now, a broad hint has come from Iran that it would sideline India in relation to a rail project India was to jointly execute close to the Afghanistan border as a feeder line for the Chabahar Port Project. Though a broad denial of a report did come from an Iranian official in this respect, what was left unsaid was that the original plan for active involvement of India in the port project might undergo substantial cuts.
Clearly, there is more to this than what meets the eye. Admittedly, India halted oil shipment from Iran in view of the US sanctions again Teheran. China has meanwhile established new linkages with Iran in ways that belittle the traditional fraternal ties between Iran and India. In fact, the Iran-Afghan-India joint port project at Chabahar was seen as an answer to Pakistan’s China-aided Gwadar Port Project in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Now, there is utter confusion about Chabahar, as far as Indian involvement is concerned.
What must also be noted is the Islamic world as a whole has started seeing India with a blinkered eye after the recent move by New Delhi to come up with a new citizenship Act that allegedly discriminates against Muslims. In sum, the government’s aim was to deport lakhs of illegal Bangladeshis, but it took on a communal colour. The support from the Leftists to the student and women-led protests against the CAA gave a new twist to the government’s efforts and sent wrong signals to the Islamic world. Overall, the Modi government has bitten more than it can chew, it seems.
Diplomacy requires careful steps forward. Perhaps India needs to have a total revamp of its foreign policy framework in the present context. Not to be forgotten are the flip-flop stances vis-à-vis Galwan and what the exact Indian position is. Former diplomats like Shiv Shanker Menon and strategic experts like Brahma Chellaney have been asking the Government to be upfront and not indulge in optics as far as the Galwan-Pangong Tso intrusion is concerned but the MEA seems hell bent on protecting the image of the Modi Government rather than informing the country the plain truth. It is left to the international media and private agencies to tell the world the actual situation prevailing in Eastern Ladakh. There’s something very wrong with Indian diplomacy today.