What exactly is India’s “national interest” in our neighbourhood? Is it in our long-term interest to flex our muscles, browbeat our neighbours and create a zone of India’s dominance in our backyard? Even if this were desirable, is this feasible? Or, is this foreign policy counter-productive, leaving us in an unenviable position where we are neither feared nor loved?

A recent visit to Nepal prompted me to ask this question. Normally, foreign policy is the domain of experts and diplomats, as it should be. Besides, the unwritten code of Indian public life dictates that differences over external relations are not aired in public. This may have created an unhealthy situation where lack of public scrutiny of foreign-policy decisions may not serve public interests. At least in some cases, diplomacy is too serious a business to be left to diplomats. When it comes to framing our neighbourhood policy, we must not let go of the common sense that we deploy in dealing with our neighbours in the colonies and villages that we reside in.

This is especially relevant at the present juncture when we are in a particularly tight spot vis-a-vis our neighbours. K P Oli, with a track record of India baiting, is back as the Prime Minister of Nepal. Recently, he bypassed the established convention of Nepalese PMs visiting India first and announced his first official visit to China. Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh is no India baiter, but it is hard to disentangle the anti-Hasina revolt that brought him to power from the anti-India sentiment that has gained ground in recent years. The new government’s latest demand for extradition of Sheikh Hasina is bound to put the Modi government in a spot. In Maldives, the main plank of Mohamed Muizzu’s successful election campaign was his promise to oust Indian forces from the island. The Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake, whose left-wing coalition National People’s........

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