As the Congress Party returns to power trouncing its ideological opponents on the right and the left, India will command a lot more political respect on the world stage.

Internally, there is enough credit for this victory to go around within the ruling party — between the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the general secretary, Rahul Gandhi.

What matters externally is the simple fact that the Congress has returned to power, with better numbers in parliament. Nothing improves a government's international reputation more than returning to power with an improved majority.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then, begins his second tenure with a lot more freedom internally and a lot more credibility externally to run India’s foreign policy.

The rout of the communist parties, who made the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative such a controversial issue is a triumph for Dr Singh’s political judgment.

The PM not only argued that the nuclear deal was in India’s national interest but staked his political future on it. Many Congressmen had cautioned Dr Singh and Mrs Gandhi against splitting with the Left on relations with the US.

In the end, it was the CPM that failed to tarnish Dr Singh’s reputation by invoking anti-Americanism and weaken the Congress during these elections.

Dr Singh, however, is unlikely to waste time patting himself on the back. For the diplomatic challenges that confront him are much more difficult than the ones he had encountered in 2004.

In the first term, Manmohan Singh had the luxury of dealing with a galloping world economy in which India’s economic profile was on the rise. It was also a moment when India’s three most important bilateral relations, with the United States, Pakistan and China were on the upswing.

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