Gone are not the days: Revisiting Nehru's Foreign Policy in Contemporary India
10-Jul-2025

By Dr. Amit Kumar, Ms Padma Dolma, and Ms Jasmine 

As global geopolitics contours grow increasingly complex, contemporary Indian foreign policy is often portrayed as bold, muscular, and unapologetically nationalist. Yet in many ways, its trajectory echoes the familiar arc of Indian cinema, where a blockbuster Hindi film is often a remake of a Tamil original, adapted from a Kannada movie, rooted ultimately in a Malayalam classic. The visuals may be sharper, the promotions grander and the tone more assertive, but the underlying script remains strikingly familiar. Strategic autonomy? Global balancing? Non-alignment to multi-alignment? Or, active dialogue with adversaries? Sounds eerily Nehruvian ethos digitally remastered for the 21^st century.

On one hand, figures like External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar critique Nehru's foreign policy as naïve, overtly idealistic and blame it for strategic setbacks such as the 1962 Indo-China war. However, on the other hand, his diplomatic posture depicts a more contradictory narrative. By championing 'multi-alignment' and asserting that 'India doesn't need to join any axis' or that 'India is entitled to make its own choices,' Jaishankar, perhaps inadvertently, reinforces the very principles that Nehru laid the foundations for and rebranded as sovereign decision-making, balanced diplomacy, and strategic autonomy under the banner of a confident and globally assertive India (The Print 2022). The question is not whether PM Modi's foreign policy breaks from the past, but whether it rebrands Nehruvian realism, with sharper optics and louder rhetoric. In other words, is this a new doctrine or Nehru's foreign policy doctrine with a selfie stick?

From Bandung to Bharat Mandapam: Continuity, Contrast and Context

It is not less than a story of continuity, departure and adaptation, where India's foreign policy has travelled a complex arc in which Nehru's foundational ideals are tested and transformed in contemporary India's multipolar and transactional world. Despite emerging as a sovereign state amidst Cold War pressures, India rejected the US offer to replace China in the UN Security Council in 1950, aiming for Asian solidarity. A similar situation echoed in the Soviet offer in 1955, later shaping China's opposition to India's permanent UNSC membership. Contrary to perception, Nehru's foreign policy proved more assertive than neutral non-alignment. For instance, India fostered ties with both superpowers, along with opposing nuclear proliferation, racism and colonialism. Despite the 1962 war exposing strategic miscalculation in the Panchsheel Agreement with China, India's identity emerged as sovereign, moral and principled.

Contemporary India, under PM Modi's leadership, pursues a 'multi-alignment' approach, engaging with both the US and Russia (however, avoiding formal alliances), echoing Nehru's emphasis on self-reliance. The imprints of Nehruvian principles can also be seen in India's participation in BRICS and the Global South, selective distancing from Western blocs and even in External Affairs Minister Jaishankar's assertive stance. However, the nature of geopolitics has evolved to become more leader-centric, moving beyond reliance on mutual goodwill. The shift from principle-driven non-alignment to a pragmatic, interest-based engagement, often termed multi-alignment, is increasingly evident (Mohan 2024; Sharma 2023). Symbolically and substantively, PM Modi has rebranded Nehruvian ideals with greater assertiveness, transforming non-alignment into interest-based, flexible diplomacy, projecting a more confident global image while reinforcing regional ties through the 'Neighbourhood First' policy, evident in high-level engagements with South-Asian leaders (NDTV World 2025; Sansad TV 2025). In other words, if Nehru were the diplomat in a jacket, Modi would be the statesman in a sherwani on a world tour with chants of "Motherland India." Both operated on the same currency of strategic autonomy. Only the exchange rate has changed.

In an increasingly polarised world, India has emerged as an autonomous power, courted by all and commanded by none. Maintaining its neutrality in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, dialoguing with Iran under Western pressure, and resisting alliance entrapment not only reflects idealism pegged up with pragmatism but also highlights the Nehruvian spirit reimagined under PM Modi's strategic diplomacy and asserts India's independent voice.

Nehru's Foreign Policy Doctrine: Idealism Tested, Not Buried!

Rather than viewing Nehru's foreign policy doctrine as merely obsolete, discredited or dismantled, it is more appropriate (or analytically productive) to understand it as tested and transformed by the evolving contours of contemporary geopolitics. However, any meaningful engagement with this line of thought must begin with the recognition that Nehru's foreign policy vision was not conceived in abstraction, but was profoundly shaped by structural constraints and imperatives of a newly independent, resource-constrained nation. Critiques of Nehru's so-called idealism often overlook the profound strategic realism embedded in his approach, given the context of India's economic fragility, limited military capacity and nascent institutional and technological infrastructure.

Undoubtedly, Nehru's foreign policy doctrine was anchored more in conviction than coercive power. However, it was not devoid of strategic foresight. For instance, non-alignment movement (NAM) is a key characteristic of his foreign policy doctrine and is often questioned for passive neutrality. However, rare attention is paid to his deliberate effort to safeguard India's freedom of action amidst Cold War bipolarity. Similarly, his Panchsheel principles, rooted in the ethos of mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, equality, non-interference and peaceful coexistence, reflected a coherent framework for post-colonial internationalism. Therefore, it is imperative to position Nehru's stance on moral diplomacy (leading with ideals rather than binding to surrounding realities), particularly in forums like Bandung and NAM, as a calibrated assertion of agency in a profoundly asymmetrical global order and not naivety.

As global geopolitics becomes increasingly complex, India's role as a principled yet pragmatic power becomes more imperative than ever. Mere assertiveness won't suffice, and idealism alone won't deliver. In essence, India must lead not as a yes man nor a rogue but as a torchbearer of balance, conviction, and renewed global relevance.

References

• Bhardfwaj, A. (2020). Modi's Multi-alignment and Nehru's Non-alignment. Economic & Political Weekly. Vol. 55, Issue No. 4.
• Bruce Riedel. (2013). JFK's forgotten crisis: Tibet, the CIA, and the Sino-Indian War. Brookings Institution Press.
• Chaudhury, D.R. (2022). India not sitting on fence, entitled to have its own side: S Jaishankar on Russia-Ukraine war. The Economic Times. June 04.
• Firstpost. (2023). Why did Nehru Reject UNSC Seat for India? Flashback with Palki Sharma [Video]. YouTube. July 22.
• Jawaharlal Nehru. (1948). An Address to the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. United Nations.  November 3.
• Kapoor, R.S. (2022). Modi follows Nehru's non-alignment. The Times of India. April 20.
• Mohan, C.R. (2024). Jaishankar's new book questions Nehru's foreign policy, sparks much needed debate. The Indian Express. March 28.
• NDTV World (2025). A Look At How India's Foreign Policy Progressed In 2024. NDTV World. January 01.
• Nehru, J. (1961). India's Foreign Policy: Selected Speeches, September 1946–April 1961. Publications Division, Government of India.
• Pande, A. (2019). Nehru did it 70 years ago. Now, Jaishankar is doing the same – introducing India to the US. ThePrint. April 10.
• Sansad TV. (2025, January 17). Sansad TV special: India's foreign policy priorities in 2025 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LXG6V1I-74
• Sansad TV. (2025, January 17). Sansad TV special: India's foreign policy priorities in 2025 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LXG6V1I-74
• Shivamurthy, A.G. (2025). A Decade of Neighbourhood First: Perspectives from South Asia. ORF Special Report No. 248, February 2025, Observer Research Foundation.
• ThePrint. (2022). 'Don't think it's necessary for India to join any axis', says S. Jaishankar [Video]. YouTube. June 3. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiRpsNF6tYg

Background Image Credits:  nam.go.ug; picture taken during the 17th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, Island of Margarita, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 17 - 18 September 2016