Harsh V. Pant is Professor of International Relations at King's College London. His most recent book is "India's Afghan Muddle" (HarperCollins).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a nine-day tour of three key western nations which has already taken him to France and Germany, where has used use his "Make in India" initiative to encourage investment from Europe's two largest economies. Defence, energy, and infrastructure took centrestage in Paris as Modi went on a boat ride with the French President on the Seine and interacted with French business leaders before visiting a World War I memorial, where he paid tribute to 10,000 Indians who lost their lives fighting with the French. In Germany, the real European powerhouse, Modi met Chancellor Angela Merkel and inaugurated the Hannover Messe, considered one of the world's largest congregations of industry gurus, in which India is a partner country this year.
He has also been underlining that his government means business. "India is a now changed country... our regulatory regime is much more transparent, responsive and stable," Modi said in Germany as he promised investors that his government is working on a "war footing" to improve the business environment further. This is something that global investors have long wanted to hear from Indian leaders. Today they see a leader who has the mandate to deliver on his commitments, and they seem impressed.
Modi's ability to effectively link India's past with the nation's future was underscored when he talked about India's aspirations for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council. Where previous Indian governments had been diffident in highlighting the contribution of Indians to the two World Wars, Modi paid a tribute to about 10,000 Indians who had died fighting alongside their French counterparts in World War I, underlining the fact that Indians have been sacrificing their lives for world peace and stability for over a century. As such, India's place on the UNSC is the nation's right. This is an argument that should have been made long back, but Congress governments have been reluctant to take this up for ideological reasons.
Modi's critics at home may crib about his foreign policy ventures being full of hype, but a large part of global diplomacy today is about selling a narrative about your nation that inspires confidence. If any political leader in India can do that effectively today, it is Modi. The Indian story is much more attractive today than it was a year ago, and Modi is best positioned to narrate it to a largely receptive audience.
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