NEW DELHI: A day after opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused him of failing to protect India’s interests in Ladakh, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day speech on Saturday to claim his soldiers had given a befitting reply “from LoC to LAC” to those who attempted to transgress India’s borders.

Other than his oblique reference to China with which India’s border talks have been reduced to a raging dispute about where their Line of Actual Control (LAC) is, and his allusion to Pakistan without naming it, Mr Modi spoke of a prosperous South Asia.

Mr Modi saw a special relationship with India’s extended neighbourhood as if he was the author of ties with the Gulf states. It was, of course, Indira Gandhi who cemented the links by visiting the UAE in 1980, followed by Dr Manmohan Singh, who for the first time in 50 years invited the Saudi king as chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade. It was P.V. Narasimha Rao who established diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992, the year Mr Modi was leading a charge on Ayodhya.

In Asean, it was Jawaharlal Nehru who secretly plucked Indonesia’s embattled Sukarno by sending a special plane to rescue him during the anti-colonial struggle. All these countries are seen as pivotal to Mr Modi’s foreign policy.

“From LoC (Line of Control) to LAC (with China), anyone who has raised eyes on the sovereignty of the country, the army of the country has responded to it in the same language,” Mr Modi said during his second Independence Day speech in his second tenure as prime minister.

Also speaks about progress and development in South Asia during his Independence Day speech

Without naming China, he said: “Respect for India’s sovereignty is supreme for us. What our brave soldiers can do for this resolution, what the country can do, the world has seen this in Ladakh.”

However, Mr Gandhi was sanguine that Mr Modi had failed to stare back at China. In a tweet on Friday, he said: “The government of India is scared to face up to Chinese intentions in Ladakh. Evidence on the ground indicates that China is preparing and positioning itself.”

But he did not elaborate. He also said lack of courage and the media’s silence would result in India paying a “huge price”.

On the country’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the prime minister said India considered not only those countries as its neighbours with whom it shared its borders but also those with whom New Delhi had “partnership of security, development and trust”.

“We are connecting our relations with our neighbours, whether they are connected to us on land or from the sea, with the partnership of security, development and trust,” he said.

“Today, the neighbours are not only those who meet our geographical boundaries but also those who meet our hearts. Where there is harmony in relationships, there is harmony,” he added, saying these were the countries that had helped India and also Indians living in their countries during the coronavirus crisis.

His address came at a time when India and Pakistan have completely stopped talking to each other. Earlier this month, Pakistan issued a new map, which included the entire Jammu & Kashmir region and parts of Gujarat in its territories. India had dismissed this as “ridiculous”.

While Bangladesh is upset with some of the decisions taken by the Indian government on the Citizenship Amendment Act, Nepal had in May claimed about 335 square kilometres of the entire Kalapani region as its own — an area that has been recognised as disputed by both Kathmandu as well as New Delhi, by issuing its new political map.

Nepal’s prime minister, however, called Mr Modi to greet him on India’s Independence Day.

During his speech, Prime Minister Modi also spoke about progress and development of South Asia at a time when the process of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is in the doldrums due to the tensions between India and Pakistan.

“One-fourth of the world’s population lives in South Asia. We can create untold possibilities of development and prosperity of such a large population with cooperation and participation. All the leaders of the countries of the region have an important responsibility towards the development and progress of this huge mass group,” he said.

The main plank of his foreign policy — personal ties with US President Donald Trump — is, however, testing the damage control capacity of Indian diplomacy. On his last visit to the US, Mr Modi had openly canvassed support with the Indian diaspora for Mr Trump’s candidature for a second term. Indian diplomats sought to play it down subsequently, saying the reference was to a previous election.

Subsequently, both leaders broke Covid-19 protocols to address a massive rally in India.

On Friday, however, as news circulated of Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic choice as vice presidential candidate on the Joe Biden ticket, the Indian foreign ministry declined to comment, saying a comment would be misconstrued as interference in the internal affairs of the US.

Ms Harris, whose mother migrated from Tamil Nadu, is an outspoken defender of human rights, including in Jammu and Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020