THEY haven鈥檛 a clue about diplomacy on the big stage nor about getting along, leave alone being popular, with the neighbours. Hindutva and its leaders are all about a parochial and violent quest at home they want to fulfil by tearing up a centuries-old social fabric, a challenge in which they will likely never succeed. Their USP was their anti-communism. The West needed it for its Cold War objectives. The West backed a military coup in Pakistan where communist parties were banned. In India, they had Nehru鈥檚 Fabian socialism to keep them in check. In any case, the comrades quarrelled with each other so furiously that they lost the plot. The Hindu right remained united and fleet-footed. It used the left to come to power first in 1977 and then in 1990. It didn鈥檛 need help after that.
Successful at home, the Hindu right fell on its face, dealing with the wider world on equal terms. The Congress had inherited its instinct for diplomacy from Nehru and Indira Gandhi, which the Hindutva right lacked. Its anti-communist USP was of little use post-Cold War, so it found other ways of courting the US, for example by joining anti-China military measures. Hindutva鈥檚 obsequiously pro-Western diplomacy found earlier occasions to bungle. When AB Vajpayee was foreign minister, Moshe Dayan paid a secret visit to Delhi, but the story was leaked. Jimmy Carter came, but lost the election.
The Shah of Iran was invited, but was overthrown soon after visiting Delhi. This is hilarious. Vajpayee struggled to find a Shia maulvi as a conduit to the new Khomeini regime. It picked the wrong cleric, who was publicly berated by Khomeini as a pretender. Hindutva鈥檚 proximity to Israel suggests they need the Chabahar port without investing the political capital in Iran. The bungling continues today. They tapped Sheikh Hasina as an ally and had to contend with her opponents, who chased her out to India. They canvassed for Donald Trump. He lost. When they didn鈥檛 canvas for him, he won. The result was humiliating. Hapless Indians were deported in handcuffs and fetters.
Skipping the BRICS summit in Brazil at the weekend, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping allowed member states to give that extra space to the next important member in the group, India. And India under Narendra Modi鈥檚 watch always craves that extra spotlight. There鈥檚 an anomaly here, however. Under Modi鈥檚 leadership, India is seen as lacking the enthusiasm it once had for ushering radical change, the kind that BRICS promises.
Hindutva鈥檚 self-limiting interests hobble India鈥檚 foreign relations. At the BRICS summit, a little extra attention and encouraging applause should have been a great psychological boost to revive Delhi鈥檚 sagging profile. Going by Indian news headlines, however, a singular achievement for the country鈥檚 engagements at the global meet was the collective criticism by BRICS of the Pahalgam terror attack. The media鈥檚 myopic obsession with Pakistan is of a piece with Hindutva鈥檚 worldview. The BRICS statement, though critical of cross-border terrorism, would not name Pakistan, giving Delhi a point to ponder.
It was not the first diplomatic shock for Delhi over the Pahalgam horror. Donald Trump鈥檚 White House lunch with Pakistan鈥檚 army chief, who led the response to Modi鈥檚 Operation Sindoor, didn鈥檛 help. More recently, the Quad foreign ministers also condemned the April 22 tragedy 鈥� who wouldn鈥檛? 鈥� but again stopped there. Deliberately bad relations with Pakistan are dictated by the communal appetite of Hindu nationalism, which is, of course, not quite the same thing as national interest.
For far too long, to Hindutva鈥檚 chagrin, the world had got accustomed to engaging with India鈥檚 Nehruvian 茅lan that came with an upright moral spine. It may be difficult to believe for those who weren鈥檛 around, that there was a time when Indian passports were valid for every country except South Africa and Israel. One of Nelson Mandela鈥檚 first foreign tours as a free man was to India. The fight against apartheid was India鈥檚 national commitment to its own people. Israel鈥檚 commercial office in Bombay would issue visas on a separate document for Indians who needed to visit the country.
Nehru pitched India as a comrade of post-colonial Africa and Asia. Though Pablo Neruda met him without being too impressed, Che Guevara saw a kindred spirit in him. His political mettle was formidable and held in awe by friends and foes alike.
From his role as an honest broker in winding down the Korean War to his conjuring and launching the Non-Aligned Movement at the Belgrade summit in 1961, Nehru commanded respect. While NAM was regarded with suspicion in the West as a Soviet cat鈥檚 paw, which it wasn鈥檛, Nehru inaugurated the Belgrade summit and within weeks was visiting Washington as JFK鈥檚 guest in November 1961.
For those who closely watch who was invited where and who wasn鈥檛, or who spoke to whom on the phone and who initiated the call, Nehru鈥檚 arrival turned into a class act. Kennedy broke protocol and climbed to the door of Nehru鈥檚 plane to welcome him. This was way before China attacked India and Nehru would need Kennedy鈥檚 help. In any case, Kennedy was neck deep in trouble as he strained his sinews to save the world from nuclear annihilation.
The ability to cultivate friends in the neighbourhood comes with hard work and lots of humility, which the Hindu right clearly lacks. It was at a SAARC summit in 2004 in Pakistan where Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf met for a bilateral meeting. The outcome included a commitment by Pakistan not to allow terrorist activity against India from its soil. The implication was that terrorism or what passes for it can only be countered politically. Soon after Vajpayee gained that wisdom, however, he lost the elections. And the Hindu right returned to its old ways, tearing up the country at home, and squandering India鈥檚 hard-won prestige abroad.
听
Jawed Naqvi is Dawn鈥檚 correspondent in Delhi.
