E-Paper
Neighbourhood First needs a reboot
This article is authored by Rajiv Bhatia.
India’s Neighbourhood First Policy (NFP) represents a core element of the nation’s foreign policy. In terms of priority and significance, it seems to compete with India’s relations with major powers, such as the US, China, Russia, Europe, and Japan, but, at the end of the day, the immediate neighbourhood matters much, especially because a few major powers, like China and the US, have been consequential players in South Asia, impacting the NFP.
In this light, a quick review of the state of play with the neighbours today may help assess how India’s policy is performing and whether it could do with some additional measures to deliver better results.
India stands committed to realising the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Its foreign policy is an instrument to achieve that goal, and its NFP serves that purpose as well. Grounded in decades of experience in managing ties with the neighbours, the government has adopted a strategy to foster a friendly and cooperative neighbourhood. The essence of NFP lies in, as external affairs minister S. Jaishankar put it in January 2023, India taking “a generous, non-reciprocal, and long-term view of building relations with them” through political and diplomatic cooperation, greater trade and investment flow, connectivity, and people-to-people connections. Usually, the results are mixed because they depend on the actions of both sides, not just India.
NFP applies to all neighbours who are willing to respect India’s security needs and other sensitivities. By this criterion, it hardly applies to Pakistan, for India rightly insists that terrorism and talks cannot go together. Operation Sindoor in May 2025 sent a powerful signal to Pakistan. But a year later, the situation changed considerably. The growing US-Pakistan proximity and the latter’s proactive role in assisting the US to end the war with Iran have enhanced Pakistan’s stature. New Delhi’s approach should continue to be marked by a mix of maturity and pragmatism. Like the rest of the world, India needs peace in West Asia; it should, therefore, take the view that the cat's colour does not matter as long as it succeeds in catching mice.
Bangladesh went through quite an upheaval since the ouster of Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, but that is now behind us. A clear and decisive victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in recent elections was the best news for India. Suitable gestures were made immediately by New Delhi through the visit of its foreign minister for the funeral of former PM Khaleda Zia, followed by the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and foreign secretary Vikram Misri at the inauguration of PM Tarique Rahman.
Dhaka reciprocated with foreign minister Khalilur Rahman's visit to Delhi. Discussions went quite well, with the two sides agreeing to take a deeper dive into specific facets of bilateral relations by convening various bilateral mechanisms. Their outcome should pave the way for a prime ministerial visit from Bangladesh, probably at the end of 2026. Differences have been identified: The request for Hasina’s extradition and Dhaka’s interest in reviving the SAARC are the obvious ones. Priorities include speedy negotiations to renew the river water-sharing treaty and to address illegal immigration in a mutually acceptable manner.
Political transition in Myanmar--the reversion from military rule to limited democracy – has been welcomed by India. The presence of Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for external affairs, at the inauguration of President Min Aung Hlaing was prudent. Indications are that some initiatives to deepen bilateral cooperation are in the offing, even as India continues its policy of ‘benign engagement’ with stakeholders in the Resistance that enjoy de facto control of the border region adjacent to India. New Delhi remains concerned about the health and immediate future of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Generational change in Nepali politics has been noticed positively in India, with PM Balendra Shah taking over as the new leader at age 35. He and his colleagues, many of whom were educated in India, desire to tread a new path, breaking with the traditional mode of ideological divisions. Therefore, India must take note. “Beyond infra and hydro power projects,” suggested Ranjit Rae, a former Indian ambassador to Nepal, “we need to find new ways of bringing the young people of our two countries closer together.” According to Shishir Khanal, the new foreign minister, the government plans to address ties with India by arranging the meetings of various bilateral mechanisms. This may climax in a visit to India by Nepal’s PM. A new thinking cap should be donned by our Nepal policy framers as well.
Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives provide signs of stability in their relations with India. The same applies to Sri Lanka, a key partner in India’s vision of MAHASAGAR and its NFP. Colombo has amply acknowledged India’s generous assistance during the severe economic crisis and the recent disaster caused by Cyclone Ditwah. Vice president CP Radhakrishnan’s visit to Sri Lanka (19-20 April) and his high-level engagements have given sufficient indications that India-Sri Lanka relations are in a good place today.
This is an opportune time to consider a set of serious suggestions aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of NFP and reducing the perceptional gap: India presents itself as the ‘elder brother’, whereas many in the region continue to view it as ‘Big Brother.’
One, the external affairs minister should start a new practice of visiting all South Asian capitals (except Islamabad and Kabul) in January each year to foster broad exchanges of views and set the annual agenda with the neighbours.
Two, our PM may consider hosting a ‘Neighbours Retreat’ over a weekend in the last quarter of every year, to be held in different regions of the country by rotation. The purpose would not be to produce a joint statement, but to foster mutual understanding and project India as a good listener.
Three, our political class, especially the friendship groups composed of members of Parliament, should engage more actively in dialogue with their counterparts across the region.
We need to add a strong economic dimension, including trade, connectivity, and practical cooperation to relations with our neighbours. This may be done bilaterally as well as through a reinvigorated BIMSTEC.
Finally, our leading think tanks could devise a plan under which a specific tank focuses on ties with a specific neighbour, and an informal council of think tanks holds periodic discussions to assess how our NFP is shaping up. The Policy Planning Division of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) should facilitate this process.
In the coming years, India’s role as a balancing and leading power, and as an emerging great power, will be largely moulded by the success or failure of its NFP. Therefore, this policy deserves greater public attention than before.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Gateway House, former ambassador to Myanmar and former director general, Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), New Delhi.
