More recently, Indian government has been accused of betraying its ‘time-tested friends’ such as Iran and Russia as if the only purpose of foreign policy is to make friends. A nation’s foreign policy cannot be geared towards trying to keep every other country in the world in good humour. India has been extremely fortunate that it has encountered an incredibly benign international environment for the last several years, making it possible for it to expand its bilateral ties with all the major powers simultaneously. This has given rise to some rather fantastic suggestions such as India being well-placed to be a ‘bridging power’, enjoying harmonious relations with all major powers — the US, Russia, China, and the EU. Such a suggestion not only implies that the major global powers are willing to be ‘bridged’ but also that India has the capabilities and influence to be such a ‘bridge’.

Moreover, the period of stable major power relations is rapidly coming to an end and soon difficult choices will have to be made, and Indian policymakers should have enough self-confidence to make those decisions even when they go against their long-held predilections.

India is being told that it is on the verge of becoming a great power. But no one is clear what India intends to do with the accretion of economic and military capabilities and with its purported great power status. India today, more than any other time in its history, needs a view of its role in the world quite removed from the shibboleths of the past.

... contd.