India's multi-align diplomacy triumphs

New Delhi: West Asia has transformed into a battlefield rained by fireballs. Seas or land, everywhere echoes the roar of cataclysmic explosions, flickering flames, and swirling smoke clouds. et amid such adversity, Indian ships boldly waving the Tricolour navigate the strait undeterred, entering the Arabian Sea. More remarkably, Iran has sealed its airspace to global flights but opened it for the safe evacuation of Indians. This scene evokes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's memorable 2014...

min read

New Delhi: West Asia has transformed into a battlefield rained by fireballs. Seas or land, everywhere echoes the roar of cataclysmic explosions, flickering flames, and swirling smoke clouds. et amid such adversity, Indian ships boldly waving the Tricolour navigate the strait undeterred, entering the Arabian Sea. More remarkably, Iran has sealed its airspace to global flights but opened it for the safe evacuation of Indians. This scene evokes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's memorable 2014 interview. He stated that "there was a time when we counted waves from the shore; now the time has come to take the helm and plunge into the ocean ourselves." In a world racing toward conflict, Modi has proven India's foreign policy ranks among the world's finest. Guided by 'Nation First' and prioritising Indian safety and interests, it steadfastly embodies 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' , the world as one family. Policy Shines Modi's foreign policy shines with such clarity and patience that even as war flames engulf West Asian nations, Indians studying and working there return home safe. In just 13 days, nearly 100,000 were evacuated from Gulf war zones, mostly by air, some via Armenia by road. PM Modi talked with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian to secure Iran's airspace for the safe evacuation of Indians, a privilege denied to any other nation. Additionally, clearance was granted for Indian ships carrying crude oil and LPG to pass safely through the Hormuz Strait. No other country's vessels are navigating these waters, except for those of Iran's ally, China. The same strategy worked in the Ukraine-Russia war: talks with both presidents ensured safe corridors, repatriating over 23,000 students and businessmen. Iran, Israel, or America, all know India deems terrorism or war unjustifiable at any cost. PM Modi amplified anti-terror campaigns from UN to global platforms, earning open support from many nations. Global Powerhouse Bolstered by robust foreign policy and economic foresight, India emerges as a global powerhouse, undeterred by tariff hurdles. Modi's adept diplomacy yields notable successes. Contrast this with Nehru's era: wedded to Non-Aligned Movement, he watched NAM member China seize vast Ladakh territory in war. Today, Modi's government signals clearly, India honors friends, spares no foes. Abandoning non-alignment, it embraces multi-alignment: respecting sovereignties while prioritizing human welfare and progress. The world shifts from unipolar or bipolar to multipolar dynamics. Modi's policy hallmark is that India seal defense deals like the S-400 and others with Russia yet sustains US friendship. America bestows Legion of Merit; Russia, its highest civilian honor, Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. India nurtures ties with Israel, Palestine, Iran via bilateral talks. Saudi Arabia stands shoulder-to-shoulder across fronts; UAE trade exceeds $80 billion. UN's top environment award, UNEP Champions of the Earth, graces India, unlike past when foreign nations campaigned against us on ecological pretexts. This policy's triumph roots in economic empowerment. India now ranks the world's fourth-largest economy, poised for third in 1-2 years. The 2000s dubbed it 'fragile'; then-PM economist Dr. Manmohan Singh led. Yet 'Modinomics' prevailed. As COVID crippled supply chains, recession loomed, inflation soared and growth plunged in developed countries, Modinomics made India the 'bright star.' Inflation stayed controlled, growth above 6.2 per cent. IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas praised it, advising the world to learn from India.

Many Chiefs, No Chorus

Correspondent
Jan 6
3 min read

Tamil Nadu’s opposition must find a common voice if it hopes to dislodge a tired but still-preponderant DMK.

Tamil Nadu’s Opposition has begun campaigning for the crucial Assembly election this year by contradicting itself. When Amit Shah declared recently at a rally in Pudukottai that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would form the next government in the State, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS), leader of the AIADMK and the BJP’s principal ally, responded within hours by insisting that his party alone would return to power.

Shah’s assertion was delivered at the conclusion of the BJP’s Tamilagam Thalai Nimira Tamilanin Payanam yatra, a carefully staged effort to signal that the party has finally shaken off its outsider status in the Dravidian heartland. His pitch was expansive as he invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and promised a “revolutionary journey” for Tamil Nadu, while vowing to uproot M.K. Stalin’s DMK. He argued that a combined BJP-AIADMK vote share in recent elections would have yielded sweeping parliamentary victories.

However, his ally EPS, speaking the same day in Salem, was unimpressed. EPS said that Tamil Nadu did not elect coalitions but governments and that the new government in 2026 would be the AIADMK’s alone. The contretemps has exposed a divided Opposition with barely four months left for the polls.

This lack of coherence automatically gives the advantage to the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which, for all its vulnerabilities, still enjoys a position of preponderance. Five years in office have dulled the DMK’s reformist edge while several promises from employment generation to urban governance remain under-delivered. Yet the DMK continues to benefit from a fractured opposition and from its deep-rooted command over the state’s political narrative.

That narrative, however, is beginning to fray. The DMK has retreated into an increasingly insular interpretation of Dravidianism, treating it less as a broad project of social justice and linguistic pride and more as a closed ideological preserve. What began as a radical movement to dismantle caste hierarchies and entrenched privilege now functions as a gatekeeping creed, invoked to delegitimise critics rather than broaden participation. Power within the party is tightly concentrated, and in the grooming of Udhayanidhi Stalin as future Chief Minister, the DMK has come to resemble the very dynastic politics it once claimed to oppose.

The party’s confrontational posture on religion has further narrowed its appeal. Provocative rhetoric on Sanatana Dharma and repeated administrative curbs on Hindu rituals have energised its loyal base while alienating a wider electorate that distinguishes between rationalism and ritual denigration. The Dravidian movement’s original challenge to orthodoxy was aimed at emancipation from social exclusion; its present incarnation increasingly reads as cultural belligerence.

Against this backdrop, the BJP’s renewed push into Tamil Nadu deserves context. For decades, it has tried and failed to crack the Dravidian fortress. From contesting alone in the 1990s, to aligning with the AIADMK at various points, to mounting cultural and symbolic overtures under Modi, the party has steadily increased its vote share but not its footprint. Its recent emphasis on Tamil language recognition in form of civil-service exams, railway announcements, a Subramania Bharati chair in Varanasi, translations of the Thirukkural is a conscious attempt to blunt the charge of cultural alienness.

But the BJP still lacks the organisational depth and local leadership needed to challenge Dravidian parties on their own turf. That makes alliance politics unavoidable. An NDA that speaks in multiple voices only reinforces the DMK’s claim that it alone offers stability.

If Tamil Nadu’s politics is to be renewed, the DMK’s long-standing dominance needs to be challenged by a credible alternative. And the Opposition must get its own house in order. That means agreeing on leadership and purpose rather than fighting parallel campaigns against each other.

Tamil voters have, in the past, shown a willingness to punish arrogance and reward coherence. Whether they do so again in 2026 will depend on whether the opposition can present itself as a single, serious challenger to the DMK’s insular order that increasingly mistakes longevity for legitimacy.

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