India–West Asia Relations Under the ‘Nationalist’ Modi Government

Abstract

India’s West Asia policy discourse has traditionally revolved around its energy dependency, security and the welfare of the 7 million Indians living in the region. In recent years, particularly since the coming of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014, the issues of counterterrorism, security, defence cooperation and non-oil trade have gained in importance. This qualitative shift is partially guided and supported by both pragmatism and the ideological differences that the BJP and its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), had been maintaining against the West Asia policy of the earlier governments led by the Congress party. Through explaining the ideological perspectives of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the BJP, this article argues that the changing global and West Asian landscape, the consolidation of Chinese influence in and around India’s land and maritime boundaries, the instability in the energy market and the insecurity of the Arab uprising–hit West Asian monarchies have provided the BJP government an opportune time to rethink and reorient India’s relations with West Asia. While ideological determinants dominate the public discourse, as the BJP’s top leadership elaborates in the public domain, the policy choices made are not always in tune with these. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often preferred the pragmatic to the ideological, and this he has done over the expectations of his party and supporters.