The pursuit of national interest is a joint project, where the ruling party and the Opposition must come together
I have always believed that foreign policy is a matter of continuity and consensus, and not a subject of partisan political debate. National interest is not about political one-upmanship, but for the good of the nation as a whole. The serving Prime Minister, when abroad, does not represent his or her political party, but the country. In this spirit, I think there can be little doubt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US this month was a resounding success. It is not my intention to go into the minutiae of what was achieved. The details are in the public realm. But to my mind, essentially the visit marked substantive progress in three key areas: Further consolidation of mutual trust, increased access to sensitive technology including through joint production in India, and greater appreciation of strategic congruence. Everything else follows from the sangam or confluence of these three factors. For India and the USA to have reached this point in terms of mutual collaboration has taken decades to evolve. The beginnings were not fortuitous. During the Cold War years, America perceived India as being closer to the then Soviet Union, which was partly true, and was suspicious about…
