ThePrint asks:
After openly backing Israel, why is Modi’s India voting at UN like a Congress government?
India continues with its pragmatic foreign policy. There is no need to vote differently from 128 countries on a sensitive matter. We have reason to be friendly with Israel and Arab countries. That tradition is continuing.
Trump’s position had as much to do with his domestic political constituency as with foreign policy. In some sense, the Indian establishment is more mature. We have stopped trying to gain domestic brownie points from foreign policy matters. For this we have to thank Narasimha Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee. And even Manmohan Singh who negotiated the Indo-US nuclear treaty without getting arm-twisted by domestic political constituencies.
Modi’s government continues this pragmatic strain. Of course, one can keep arguing and making a big deal about whether we should have voted with or against Israel or abstained on the Jerusalem resolution. The interesting part to note is that the resolution is not about supporting Israel, it’s about condemning the US. There is very little loss that a country faces by symbolically and ritualistically condemning the US in the UN. So, India has opted for this no-loss practical policy.
Read other perspectives on this issue:
Arun Singh, former Indian ambassador to the US
Tufail Ahmad, Senior Fellow for Islamism and Counter-Radicalisation Initiative
When we think of India and the Holy Land, we think of the hospice near Herod’s gate in old Jerusalem. We think of the Indian soldiers whose deaths are commemorated in the cemetery in Haifa. We think of the thousands of Indian Jews who have migrated to Israel and today are a vibrant community. We think of the enormous contribution of Jewish persons to modern Indian art and scholarship, film, stage, poetry, military affairs and so much more.
We have to put all this together and balance it against our large population in Arab countries, our enduring relationship with the Middle-East, our economic, human, and cultural ties there. It takes a very intelligent government to manage the creative tensions that arise from this complex background. Let’s face it, we have done and continue to do all we can to manage this creative tension.
India has played its Israel and Palestinian cards quite well. And I believe we will continue to do so. It is an area of foreign policy success. We should be large-hearted enough to give praise where praise is due.
Jaithirth Rao lives in Mumbai. He is an entrepreneur and a writer.