Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech last week from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi to mark India’s Independence Day carefully delineated his new strategic and foreign policy in the region. We can call this “nudge diplomacy”, and it stands in stark contrast to the more assertive stance of his first term.

Much of India’s new foreign policy approach can be understood by looking at what Modi did not say in his speech. Delivered 10 days after the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special autonomous status, Modi carefully omitted mention of Pakistan. Yet he spoke about the threats of global terrorism to India’s neighbourhood of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and the greater need for India to “unite all world forces to end terrorism”. Modi’s new doctrine has been formulated to reach out to its neighbours to tackle Pakistani terrorism while also strengthening regional connectivity.

Please click here to read the full “Narendra Modi’s nudge diplomacy” article published at The Interpreter, written by Griffith Asia Institute PhD candidate, Teesta Prakash.