ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Mr. Modi's robust networking with the world's leaders directly through Prime Ministerial visits. It considers the factors that have led to the shift in the foreign policy stance of India and the consequences this has for India's relationship with the South Asian neighbours, to global politics. The spirit of Afro-Asian solidarity, voiced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the launching of the Non-aligned Movement in Bandung in 1954 reflected this apparent duality of India's foreign policy. In India, as in Pakistan and many other post-colonial states, foreign policy becomes an instrument for nation-building. The ambiguity of India's foreign policy leads to questions about India's position on specific issues as well as those of a general character of Indian foreign policy. American perception of India during the Cold War was influenced by what US policy makers saw as India's irritating show of neutrality and pro-Soviet leanings in real terms.
