Paper short abstract:

Economics has emerged as the powerful locomotive of India’s foreign policy calculus and there exists a symbiotic relationship between foreign policy strategy and domestic economic development.

Paper long abstract:

For the first time in the history of independent India, a non-congress party who believes in Hindu cultural nationalism has come to power with a decisive mandate under the strong leadership of Narendra Modi. The BJP and its Prime Minister is expected to integrate the Indian economy fully into the global economy as the present government has not been crippled by the pulls and pressures of coalition politics. The economic pronouncements of Modi indicates that he would continue,on a fast pace, with the reforms that was initiated in 1991. Again, we can notice in Modi's approach of 'strategic interconnectedness' or 'multi- vectored engagement' a striking similarity with the Nehruvian non-alignment and strategic autonomy. At the dawn of independence, such an approach facilitated liberal capitalist economic development with socialist flavours on an upward trajectory. It shows that there existed symbiotic relationship between foreign policy strategy and domestic economic development. It seems that Modi's Make in India project would try to draw its nourishment from monopoly capitalism, and the politico-strategic doctrine will be constructed on the plank of multi alignment. Does Modi government have the flexibility to play this flying trapeze game of subordination of the domestic economy to monopoly capitalism on the one hand and to embrace multi-alignment on the other? The social structure of accumulation associated with monopoly capitalism does not offer such a flexibility to Modi as that was available to Nehru during the period of liberal capitalism.