Why India’s ruling coalition must stop using foreign policy to score political points at home

The likely impact of the new coalition government on India’s external relations has been the focus of foreign policy commentary ever since the Lok Sabha election results were declared on June 4. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party fell short of winning a majority and returned to power, leading the National Democratic Alliance with two other parties.

There is consensus over the continuity of India’s foreign policy, not least because the coalition is likely to be stable and the core team responsible for executing it since 2019 has continued. There is, however, one area where change will be welcome: the use of foreign policy to secure political goals at home.

Foreign policy is the medium through which the government of the day tries to secure the state’s national interests. In the Indian system, the government changes every five years but the state remains a constant. This makes any government no more than a trustee of India’s foreign policy. Trusteeship enjoins the government to use the privileges of India’s membership of the international community to meet national goals such as security, development and international influence.

In the past decade, while the establishment in New Delhi sought to secure national interests as it executed the country’s foreign policy, it...

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