What is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Covid-19 diplomacy? One gets a hint from Home Minister Amit Shah. When Modi led the SAARC Conference on March 15, Shah tweeted “with today’s SAARC conference world has witnessed the dawn of a new kind of diplomacy, which sets an example for the world to follow.”
He said India always believed in ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ and “under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership India will play a defining role towards solving global issues.” While leading the country in the fight against Coronavirus at home, Modi has also been active in the international arena. Like all populist leaders, the Prime Minister wanted to send a message that India is a reliable global player to address global threats like the virus.
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None of the big five countries, nor even the United Nations or the European Union, took the initiative for a global strategy. The first thing the Prime Minister did was to telephone leaders of other countries including China offering medical help. Modi referred to this in the virtual NAM summit this week, saying that India has provided medical supplies to over 123 partner countries, including 59 members of NAM, notwithstanding its domestic requirements.
India also helped by exporting the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) around the world including to the US, African and Latin American countries. At the regional level, on March 15, Modi had taken the lead in mobilizing SAARC, which was almost defunct due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. He surprised every one by suggesting the setting up a Covid-19 fund for SAARC countries and announced a $10 million contribution by India.
The virtual meeting was successful with other countries also offering money to the fund. Even Pakistan had given $3 million. This was followed by India sending medical help and sharing knowledge with neighbours. Revival of SAARC to fight the pandemic collectively and reasserting India’s leadership is seen as a step to counter the growing influence of Beijing in the region. Then, on March 17, Modi telephoned Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the current G-20 chair, and suggested a virtual meeting of the group.
At the meeting on March 26, the Prime Minister interacted with other global leaders and stressed the need to put humanitarian interests first amid the coronavirus pandemic. The members of the BRICS (Brazil- Russia-India-China-South Africa) grouping decided to create a special fund of $15 billion to rebuild their economies and to overcome the impact of the pandemic at a videoconference of their foreign ministers.
The latest surprise was Modi’s participation in the NAM virtual summit this week. NAM remains the second big grouping after the United Nations. India is one of the founding members of NAM and hosted its 7th summit in 1983 in New Delhi. NAM came into being when leaders of 25 developing countries met at the 1961 Belgrade Conference.
Participation in the virtual summit provided an opportunity for Modi to interact with global leaders to enhance the goodwill he had created in Africa, Pacific islands and other smaller players. Significantly this was the first time Modi participated in the NAM summit since he took over. For some reason, Modi had earlier shown his back to both SAARC and NAM. In 2016, the then Vice President Hamid Ansari represented India and in 2019 the present Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu was deputed.
In fact in January 2019, at the Raisina Dialogue annual conference at Delhi, the then Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale categorically said, “In the early part of our time, it worked with non-alignment. We have moved beyond that. I think at this stage, we are aligned, but the alignment is issue-based. It is not ideological. That gives us the capacity to be flexible, gives us the capacity to maintain our decisional autonomy.”
Obviously, Covid-19 has offered an excellent opportunity to India to assert its place in the global fight against the pandemic. At the summit, Modi said, “We should develop a platform for all NAM countries, to pool our experiences, best practices, crisis-management protocols, research, and resources.” He also had a dig at Pakistan without naming the country: “Even as the world fights Covid- 19, some people are busy spreading some other deadly viruses such as terrorism, fake news and doctored videos to divide communities and countries.”
Modi’s proactive approach also has given him an opportunity to retrieve his sagging image in the international arena. Besides the slide in the economy, many of his recent decisions like the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir or the amended Citizenship law had got him adverse publicity in the international media. In short, New Delhi is keen to assert its importance and place in the world. Modi’s return to SAARC and NAM should be regarded in this context. There should be a sustained effort to achieve this goal in the post-corona world.
