STRIKING A FINE BALANCE

India has to continue its robust diplomacy-balance strategic ties with partners, speak up for global justice and pave the way for economic progress

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

Foreign policy has been regarded as an area of success for the Narendra Modi-led NDA government since 2014-a sign of a confident India asserting itself on the global stage. No passage of events proved it more effectively than how New Delhi steered deep functional ties with both the United States and Russia, without one jeopardising the other. Its presidency of the G20 also saw India renew its old role as a leading voice of the Global South. New Delhi's diplomatic skills were again on view this February, when the ministry secured a pardon for eight former Indian naval officers held on death row in Qatar. Closer home, as Pakistan extended an olive branch on the occasion of Modi's oathtaking on June 9, India stayed firm on its stand of peace being contingent on cessation of terror.