India, the world’s largest democracy, certainly has with it some choices when it comes to its foreign policy. However, usually the choices have to be made in a democratic set-up where nothing goes uncontested. An intriguingly complex exercise, it then is ironic that the inner workings of diplomacy rarely get converted into fascinating reads.

But India’s former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon’s new book, Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy, appears to break the mould, as it succinctly lays out the truth, without boasting or minimising India’s actual capabilities. 

Every country comes to terms with the ‘difficult decisions’ it has to make in managing its home-turf and its relations to the world at large. Thus, the choices made by a respective country are naturally of critical importance to its neighbourhood and beyond. Menon, who served in different capacities in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (besides delivering on many other crucial assignments), knows the complexities of India’s role in South Asia very well. 

In his book, Menon makes his observations by offering case references of New Delhi’s decision-making on crucial foreign policy matters. In the process, he maintains a line which allows him to set himself free from anecdotes. This is a rarity today, when ‘personification’ is increasingly becoming one of the biggest obsessions among decision-makers.

To discuss at length the complex elements of India’s foreign policy, he opens up with five long-form chapters: Pacifying the Border: The 1993 Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement with China; Natural Partners: The Civil Nuclear Initiative with the United States; Restraint or Riposte? The Mumbai Attack and Cross-Border Terrorism from Pakistan; Force Works: Sri Lanka Eliminates the Tamil Tigers, 2009; Why India Pledges No First Use of Nuclear Weapons. In doing so, he brings to the readers some of the most pressing strategic challenges which have gripped the policy establishment in India for the past decades.

What is noteworthy is Menon’s elucidation of the eventful years in which India’s ‘moralistic stand’ in the world was tested, and how eventually diplomatic efforts helped keep this worldview intact. Especially with China, as Menon delves into in the first chapter, India has been able to maintain relatively routine diplomatic ties—which has in turn helped trade between the two countries—despite the relationship being mired in several border disputes. 

In the third chapter, while presenting all the options India had after Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack to respond to Pakistan, the UPA-II government, under then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, opted not to attack its neighbour. Menon justifies the act by claiming that leading the region towards another war would have been a complete disaster.

Rather than military retaliation, India at the time pursued a policy to isolate Pakistan diplomatically without severing formal ties, and at home turf, it moved to safeguard itself against further terrorist attacks with a new Home Minister, P Chidambaram, at the helm.

The fourth chapter is a grim reminder of India’s losses while entangling itself in Sri Lanka’s civil war, which included the assassination of its former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In the chapter, Menon recounts the choices India had in dealing with this very violent war, which, on paper, had no direct impact on India.

In this backdrop, the glaring shift in India’s foreign policy under the current Modi regime have been jarring and Menon is someone who has no reservation while speaking on the trend where ‘whims’ rather the ‘substance’ matter more.

He is particularly not at ease with Modi’s policies, which has curtailed the roles of the External Affairs Ministry—and are event-centric. Menon, it would be safe to say, is not one to mindlessly cheer on Modi’s ‘rocking of foreign shows.’ Through the book, Menon defends India’s foreign policy since 1947, which when set against the present cult-driven approach reads as a strong reproach of current policies that go against the ethos of India’s treasured democracy, and the its gains around the world through the decades. 

Further, in a closely integrated world—where the dissemination of information takes place faster than the thinking capacities of policy-makers—Menon advises that it would be good for India if it kept its ‘national interest’ at the forefront while conducting its foreign policy rather than rejoicing over Modi’s ‘travel-calendar’.

A fascinating account, with ample insider insights you’d struggle to find elsewhere, Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy serves as a perfect bridge between India’s diplomatic past and its current trajectory—making it a valuable read for diplomats, scholars and the nuanced reader alike. 

Thakur is a New Delhi-based journalist and writer, he can be reached on [email protected]