Almost every Prime Minister of India has had one big issue that they have tried to tussle with in their stints as heads of state of the country, namely to rupture the triangulation between China and Pakistan and to avoid a dual front war with the two neighbors. And they had all of three options; Align with a larger power, make peace with either of the two neighbors, or keep the two borders violent and fight in a free for all format.
Mr. Modi with absolute political control on the domestic front has the same options available to him. At this point, it is clear to understand that of these three options the Prime Minister in his earlier term has already tried option number two with both Pakistan and China. He tried to make peace with China using economic quotients and incentives to Chinese corporations. And with Pakistan tried all diplomatic ways for negotiations, but soon realized that Pakistan interests are deeply concretized and at direct odds with Indian interests. In other words, a compromise with Pakistan would mean a compromise with India’s sovereignty. A dual front war seems to be an unfeasible situation altogether for all parties involved, as the entire neighborhood is amassed with nuclear warheads, and any decisive ingress into any of the territories may lead to extinction level events.
The option that remains to be fairly untouched by past Prime Ministers is option number one, which is to formally enter into a strategic partnership with the West. Mr. Modi himself has been flirting with this idea for quite some time. He has had cordial relations with all relevant European and American heads of states in the six years since he took office in New Delhi. But even the alliance option does not come without compromises of its own, such as perhaps India being used as a military base for the Americans.
Knowing Mr. Modi and his unexpected out of the box strategies, what only remains to be seen is whether Indian establishment will retake the roads already taken, or will a new road be built with novelty as has been the modus operandi of the NDA government.
