India's Foreign Policy Crossroads: Forgoing Strategic Autonomy for Short-Term Advantages?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) released a statement condemning the Israeli bombing of Iranian soil as a breach of international norms and as a threat to regional peace.(India, meanwhile, maintained a respectable distance from the announcement, stating that the SCO's statement was never meant to express the position of its government. Although these diplomatic niceties seem trivial, they reflect a deeper and far more significant shift in the trajectory of India's foreign policy—one that is all set to wreck the nation's credibility, scare away its strategic allies, and deprive it of its long-standing sheen as a champion of the Global South.

This event is not unique. It is a move where India seems to be drifting from the age-old non-aligned and multilateral norm, to the more ambivalent and discriminatory path, more in tune with Western geostrategic paradigms. This shift, while conceivably pragmatic on some level, provokes deep questions about India's place within the new world order, and whether it can continue to be said to represent an independent voice in the face of polarizing trends of great power competition and the Origin of India's Strategic Autonomy. India's foreign policy after independence rested on the underlying doctrine of non-alignment, imagined by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and subsequently codified as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The doctrine was minimalist but forceful: India would never be a cat's paw in the Cold War struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States. Rather, it would follow an independent path, advocating for peaceful coexistence, sovereignty, and economic justice.

Even as global equilibrium was shifted after the Cold War, India never paid the price for its strategic independence, ever maintaining a distance from all powers and yet not becoming a victim of bloc politics because of ideological considerations. Its political alignment with Iran, Russia, Central Asia, and the Arab world was on the principle of a complicated game of balances maintained through national interests combined with historical bonds and ideological sympathies.

It was one that provided India with a distinct diplomatic niche. It was respected and admired by both the West and the East, aspired to on grounds of its strength of character, whether in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, anti-colonial revolutions in Africa, or in opposing apartheid South Africa.

The Israel-Iran Episode: A Symbolic Turning Point

India's move to opt out of the SCO condemnation of Israel's attack on Iran is a symbolic departure from its heritage. Iran has been India's traditional ally and has been a fundamental regional diplomatic and infrastructural outreach, particularly the port of Chabahar, which provides access to Afghanistan and Central Asia without going through Pakistan. Iran has also been an important energy partner as well as a vital counterweight to Sunni-influenced Gulf regimes.

By avoiding the support to the denunciation of Israel, India uttered a coded but clear message: loyalty to old allies is subordinate to newer strategic considerations, above all its closer and closer relations with the U.S. and Israel. This also undercuts India's forty-year history of resolution of West Asian conflict peacefully and non-alignment diplomacy.

For countries like Iran, which are already apprehensive of the American-Israeli axis, India's silence, if not worse, will be seen as a betrayal of common civilizational fraternity and historical closeness. The diplomatic cost of adopting such a policy may not be in the short term, but in the long term, will undermine India's positioning in West Asia and the Islamic world.

Alienating Asia: Strategic Isolation on the Rise

In pulling out of the multilateral agreement at SCO—an organization that comprises Russia, China, Iran, and some of the Central Asian countries, India increasingly places itself in opposition to the new Asian regionalism that prioritizes sovereignty, multipolarity, and collective security. While SCO contains paradoxes, its members tend to be opposed to unilateral military intervention and prefer to resolve disputes through discussion.

India's unwillingness to increase condemnation of Israeli belligerence can be seen as a de facto co-optation by Western exceptionalism, whereby privileged powers can afford to opt out being tethered to international norms. Such an approach undermines India's moral leadership and strategic credibility in international spaces.

Alternatively, though, such an action can draw Iran, Russia, and Central Asian republics closer to one another—indeed, even more in line with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well. If India continues down the path of distancing itself from the Asian consensus, it will be increasingly isolated in regional economic and security structures that undermine its vision for itself as a leading role-player in multipolar Asia.

The Westward Tilt: Calculated or Costly?

There is little secret about India's increasing proximity to the U.S.-Israel strategic axis. Over the past decade, India has increased defense, intelligence, and technology ties with the two nations. From mutual military exercises to defense acquisitions and counter terror cooperation, the India-Israel-U.S. axis has only deepened.

Though there are material gains from this alignment access to cutting-edge technology, intelligence-sharing, and geopolitical clout, there are some quiet costs:

Credibility Gap: India's appeal for a rules-based international order falls flat if it will not denounce violations by its friends. That undermines the normative authority of its own diplomatic statements on matters such as Kashmir, Chinese bad behavior across the border, or Russian incursion into Ukraine.

Strategic Dependence: Western alliances have the potential to compromise India's strategic autonomy if either the global balance of power shifts or in the case of policy divergence, such as India's cautious response to Ukraine under American pressure.

Reputation in the Global South: Most of the developing world continues to view India as the voice of justice, equality, and multipolarity. If India is viewed as an imitation of Western voices or oblivious to oppression when politically expedient, it will lose its soft power in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

A Diplomatic Identity Crisis?

Underlying this critique is an even more profound one: What is India to become, as a world power? Should it be America's junior partner? Or should it be a civilizational power, based in the Global South, committed to multilateralism and moral leadership?

India's recent diplomatic action is a reflection of an identity crisis. On the one side, it wishes to be the boss on matters such as the Ukraine war or Russian oil trade. On the other, it does not protest grossly against international norms when the perpetrators are its Western allies.This inconsistency confuses India's allies, weakens its international reputation, and excludes it from the creation of long-term friendships in international forums.

The Way Forward: Recalibration, Not Retreat

India's foreign policy does not have to be second-guessing or fawning. It can and must be strategically independent, morally coherent, and regionally connected. To do so, the following are the measures needed:

By reaffirming commitment to multilateralism, India should be proactive in such platforms as SCO, BRICS, and NAM—not only as a passive participant, but as a values-enforcing norm-setter whose interests are asserted.

Additionally, by striving for strategic balancing, alliance with the West must not be at the expense of sacrificing old friends. Even during the Cold War, India maintained such a balanced approach to avoid excessive reliance on a single cluster.

India should Enunciate Uniformly on International Law. Regardless of which country does it, China, the U.S., Russia, or Israel, India's reaction must be guided by its time-tested principles of sovereignty, peaceful settlement, and justice. Consistency in morals lends diplomatic integrity.

Given its geographic proximity and energy needs, India must prioritize rebuilding trust with Iran and the broader Islamic world. Cultural diplomacy, economic engagement, and principled solidarity must return to the core of India’s West Asia policy.

Mohammad Hesham Atik is a student pursuing BA Hons Psychology from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by Arslaan Beg.