Narendra Modi's foreign policy based on job creation: MJ Akbar

Investment and job creation were the 'fundamental pillars' of the foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government's, which was keen to forge an international 'alliance of prosperity' rather than adhere to the old idea of non-alignment, BJP spokesman MJ Akbar said in London on Friday.

Investment and job creation were the 'fundamental pillars' of the foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government's, which was keen to forge an international 'alliance of prosperity' rather than adhere to the old idea of non-alignment, BJP spokesman MJ Akbar said in London on Friday.

Addressing a select audience at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) on Modi's foreign policy challenges and opportunities, Akbar said the 'Make in India' campaign reflected India's new foreign policy approach that has seen increasing focus on 'Act East'.

Cautioning Pakistan on what he called a 'deep freeze', Akbar said 'goodwill' did not go far in international relations: "There was 10 years of unrelenting goodwill from the Manmohan Singh government (towards Pakistan), but it achieved nothing in return".

Terming the challenge posed by ISIS as a 'war between modernity and the romance of regression', he said the Islamic State (IS) was not the first state in history formed on the basis of religion; the credit went to Pakistan, which was formed on the basis of religion.

India, Akbar said, would be 'happy to partner' in international efforts to eliminate regressive ideologies, and hoped that a strategic agreement in this regard could be reached with Britain.

According to him, Modi had a 'logical mind, interested in ideas than ideology', and recalled the impact his Nepal visits had on leaders such as Prachanda, when he travelled to Kathmandu with a message of accommodation.