How Will BJP's 'Hindi Heartland' Win Advance Modi's Foreign Policy Vision?

The sweeping victory of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded elections in three predominantly Hindi-speaking states - Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Rajasthan - will give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a further boost to push his foreign policy agenda in the coming months ahead of national elections around May next year, experts told Sputnik India.

Prime Minister Modi was effectively the main campaigner for the BJP in all the states which went to polls. In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP has ousted the state governments led by main federal opposition Congress Party. In Madhya Pradesh, it bucked anti-incumbency to retain power.

Vijay Jolly, a former convenor of BJP’s foreign policy cell, highlighted that the saffron party has always been a firm advocate of advancing India’s national interest, national integrity and national security; this vision is also reflected in the party’s official foreign policy.

“Prime Minister Modi’s foreign policy and internal policy are a mix of good governance at home and spreading Bharat’s goodwill abroad. The large non-resident Indians (NRIs or Indian diaspora) residing overseas look to PM Modi for peace, progression and development in modern times,” noted Jolly, who is also a member of BJP’s National Executive.

Lieutenant Colonel (retired) JS Sodhi, an Indian Army veteran and a strategic affairs expert, said that the state elections’ win was a “clear signal” that Prime Minister Modi’s foreign policy’s on the “right track”.

“The state election victory in the Hindi heartland has given a great boost to India’s foreign policy which has been raised by a few notches in the last nine and a half years since Prime Minister Modi came to power,” Sodhi underscored.

Sodhi highlighted that India’s geopolitical position has increased “tremendously” in the past nine-and-a-half years since PM Modi assumed the leadership.

In his victory speech at the BJP headquarters after the election results this week, Modi stated that the state election results would resonate “across the world” and re-assure investors globally about the “development potential” of the 1.4-billion-strong nation.

“Every Indian voter wants to see a developed India… The entire world is witnessing that people of India want a strong and stable government,” Modi told a jubilant gathering of BJP supporters.

Supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, celebrate early leads for the party in Rajasthan state elections in Jaipur, India, Sunday, Dec.3, 2023.

India Affirms Commitment to Strategic Autonomy

Sodhi pointed out that Modi has always acted in India’s national interest and has carried on New Delhi’s longstanding tradition of not taking aligning with any power bloc, a trend he hoped would continue in coming months and years.

He cited the case of Russian crude purchases by India as a case in point.

“Despite significant pressure from the US and EU on the issue of Russian crude purchases, Prime Minister Modi clearly told the West that New Delhi would continue to do what’s best for India’s energy security,” the analyst noted, adding that Moscow was now the biggest supplier of oil to India.

He also underlined that in spite of having cultivated close defence and strategic ties with Israel since coming to power, Modi has continued to advocate for a two-state solution in order to resolve the longstanding Middle-East dispute.

Sodhi expressed confidence that India’s foreign policy continues to remain largely unaffected by the elections in the US, with which New Delhi has cultivated close defence and strategic ties in recent years.

“India has followed a non-aligned foreign policy for decades. India didn’t join the either bloc even during the Cold War. We remain neutral and did what suited our national interest as well as our national security,” the veteran said.

“The election results of the US, whatever they are, won’t affect India’s foreign policy much and New Delhi would continue to remain neutral,” reckoned Sodhi.

‘Zero-Tolerance’ Stance Against Khalistan Extremism

Jolly confidently predicted that Prime Minister Modi would continue to take a firm line against terrorism at home and overseas.

“We would continue to remain firmly opposed to separatists and pro-Khalistan activists working at the behest of hostile Pakistan. There would continue to be zero tolerance towards Sikh extremists and total opposition to the global menace of terrorism,” the BJP politician asserted.

Jolly cautioned that a firm line against terrorism of all kinds didn’t mean affecting ties with the entire Sikh community at home or abroad, including in western countries such as the US and Canada.

“BJP has always had goodwill among the Sikh community in India. It has been an alliance partner of the Sikh-centric Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD),” Jolly underlined, referring to the political alliance which has previously been in power in the state of Punjab.

Sodhi, meanwhile, berated the US and other western countries for ignoring India’s concerns vis-à-vis pro-Khalistan terrorism.

“On one side, the West claims itself to be a partner of India. But, at the same, they allow their soil to be used for anti-India activities, which is indeed very ironical,” the veteran said.

Khalistan Supporters in New York (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The comments come against the backdrop of recent indictment by US Department of Justice (DoJ) pressing “murder-for-hire” charges against Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta over a foiled assassination plot against US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a designated terrorist in India.

The DoJ has claimed that Gupta was “directed” by an Indian government official to carry out the assassination. Last month, New Delhi announced a “high-level” enquiry to probe the charges.

Meanwhile, as reported by Sputnik India, there is a growing sense of anger in India over what the condoning of terrorist activities of Pannun, who last month threatened to blow up an Air India plane and has regularly incited calls to violence against Indian diplomats in the US and Canada.

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