Realignment of India’s Foreign Policy: From Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment

How PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar Re-centred India on the World Stage.

— by Karan Bir Singh Sidhu

Retired IAS officer, former Special Chief Secretary, Punjab. With 37 years in public service, he writes at the intersection of India’s diplomatic trajectory, current geo-politics, and the shifting constellations of global power—chronicling how a resurgent India is navigating the world with growing confidence.

From Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment

India’s foreign-policy story has travelled a long arc—from Jawaharlal Nehru’s cold-war non-alignment that often left New Delhi on the margins, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar’s “multi-alignment”, a doctrine that lets India talk to everybody while tilting to nobody. The shift has pulled India back to the centre of great-power traffic and given the world’s most populous democracy an outsized ability to shape outcomes in crises from Ukraine to Gaza, from BRICS to the G20.

The Non-Aligned Genesis—and its Limits

The idea of staying aloof from rival blocs was codified at the 1955 Bandung Conference and formally institutionalised at the first Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Belgrade in 1961 under the leadership of Tito, Nehru, Sukarno, Nasser and Nkrumah. While NAM gave newly-decolonised states a collective voice, its instinctive distance from both Cold-War poles sometimes translated into diplomatic isolation—especially after the Soviet collapse removed the East–West balance that had made the middle ground valuable.

India nevertheless remained invested: Indira Gandhi hosted the seventh NAM summit in New Delhi in March 1983, famously receiving the Chairpersons’s gavel—and a bear hug—from Fidel Castro, who had led the previous Havana Summit in 1979. Yet by the 1990s the movement appeared anachronistic, dominated by rhetorical south-south solidarity rather than hard power.

Enter the Modi-Jaishankar Doctrine

Since 2014 New Delhi has rejected rigid neutrality in favour of nimble “multi-alignment”. Dr Jaishankar calls it “multi-vector engagement”—pursuing issue-based coalitions that maximise national interest rather than ideological consistency. India now signs a logistics pact with the United States, buys discounted oil from Russia, joins the Quad with Japan and Australia, founds the International Solar Alliance with France and spearheads the Voice of the Global South.

The approach rests on three habits that mark the Modi years:

• Issue-by-issue alignment: India picks partners à la carte, rather than by alliance.

• Principled autonomy: Every position is justified by reference to the UN Charter and “strategic autonomy”, shielding New Delhi from charges of opportunism.

• Middle-power brokerage: India mediates between camps, turning geography and demography into diplomatic leverage.

Concrete cases illustrate how the doctrine works in practice.

1. Balancing Moscow and Kyiv

• Humanitarian posture: India has dispatched multiple consignments of medicines, generators and relief supplies to Ukraine, earning public thanks from Kyiv.

• Diplomatic tight-rope: New Delhi has abstained on most punitive UN resolutions against Moscow but repeatedly urges “dialogue and diplomacy”. Prime Minister Modi has engaged both President Putin and President Zelensky, pressing for talks within the UN Charter framework.

• Economic hedge: Russian crude, purchased at a discount, has made Moscow India’s largest oil supplier, pushing OPEC’s share of Indian imports to a record low.

The outcome is paradoxical yet effective: New Delhi cushions its energy security, helps keep channels open to Putin, and retains credibility in Kyiv and the West as a prospective mediator—something only a truly multi-aligned player can do.

2. A Nuanced Line on Gaza–Israel

When Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, Modi condemned “terrorism in all its forms” and expressed solidarity with Israel. Within weeks India shipped medical supplies and food to Palestinians and later voted in the UN General Assembly for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire—after an initial abstention.

The twin moves—security empathy with Israel and humanitarian empathy with Gaza—illustrate India’s claim that it is “on the side of peace” rather than on either side of the conflict. The stance keeps vital defence ties with Israel intact while preserving India’s leadership credentials in the Muslim-majority Gulf and wider Global South.

3. Cooling the Canada Row

Relations nosedived in September 2023 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Nijjar. New Delhi suspended visa services and both capitals expelled diplomats. By mid-2025, after Canada’s election delivered a new government, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar initiated dialogue with his Canadian counterpart, paving the way for restoring High Commissioners and restarting trade talks.

India’s hard-nosed response to what it called “double standards on extremism” quelled domestic political pressure, while its readiness to re-engage once Ottawa dialled down rhetoric demonstrated flexibility—again, principle without permanent hostility.

4. Weathering U.S. Pressure on BRICS Currency

Washington has voiced concern over BRICS de-dollarisation schemes. Former President Trump threatened tariffs if the bloc created a common currency. India’s answer was diplomatic understatement: the Finance Ministry took note of the proposals and committed to examining them on merit, while the Reserve Bank clarified that de-dollarisation was not the objective.

By neither endorsing nor rejecting the scheme outright, New Delhi retained leadership space within BRICS while signalling to Washington that India is not front-lining any anti-dollar crusade. At the 2025 BRICS summit, Modi emphasised local-currency trade—not a supranational coin—keeping both Moscow and Washington engaged.

5. Converting Consultative Forums into Influence

• Quad: The 2024 leaders’ summit launched MAITRI, a maritime-domain-awareness training initiative that India will host, along with deeper collaboration on resilient supply chains and green shipping.

• I2U2: A US-UAE-Israel-India project is investing in food parks and a renewable energy plant in Gujarat, combining Arab capital and Israeli tech with Indian scale.

• G20 Presidency: At the New Delhi summit, Modi secured a consensus declaration despite Russia-Ukraine fissures and successfully championed the African Union’s inclusion in the grouping.

Each platform extends India’s reach to a different geography—Indo-Pacific, West Asia, and the wider G20 constituency—without binding commitments that would curtail autonomy.

6. Why Multi-Alignment Works for India—and for Others

1. Scale and Economy: As the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India offers a market no bloc can ignore.

2. Civilisational Soft Power: From Yoga Day at the UN to vaccine diplomacy, New Delhi wields cultural leverage that complements hard interests.

3. Trusted Interlocutor: Because India speaks to Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Brussels and Tehran, it can convene conversations others cannot—a role visible in its Ukraine and Gaza engagements.

4. Consistent Principles: References to the UN Charter, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution anchor policy—allowing flexibility in tactics without appearing fickle.

7. Looking Ahead: Strategic Autonomy 2.0

The Modi-Jaishankar energetic and synergetic partnership has not repudiated non-alignment so much as updated it. Where Nehru sought to stay equidistant from two superpowers, New Delhi today aims to be indispensable to many—a friend to all, a satellite to none. It is a realism tempered by values, in which the litmus test is not ideological loyalty but concrete Indian interests and global problem-solving.

That calculus explains why India can buy Russian oil, launch QUAD maritime patrols, condemn terror against Israel yet fly relief to Gaza, and trade diplomatic barbs with Canada one month before reviving talks the next. It also explains why, amid talk of a splintering world order, more capitals now look to New Delhi not as a fence-sitter but as a fulcrum. The era of isolation is over; the age of purposeful multi-alignment has begun.