India's Foreign Policy: From Instagram to Strategic Autonomy

today, the twitter Army is in full form - shouting, “The U.S. can’t be trusted!” and “India must diversify its options!” But here's the uncomfortable truth - what we’re witnessing now isn’t strategy. It’s reactionary foreign policy at its worst, and it’s happening because of years of short-sighted, Instagram-driven decision making. In the past few years we surrendered India's strategic autonomy piece by piece. Between 2016 and 2019, India signed LEMOA and COMCASA - With LEMOA, we gave the U.S. access to Indian naval and air bases for logistics and refueling. With COMCASA, we agreed to use U.S.-approved encrypted communication systems. What does that mean? It means that our own military connectivity would now rely on hardware and standards dictated by another country. This wasn’t “strategic partnership”; it was dependency - built willingly in lieu of contracts. In 2019, we withdrew from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) - the largest trade bloc in Asia. Instead of pushing for better terms or leveraging our growing economy, we simply walked away. The result? India isolated itself from an emerging Asian economic architecture. At the same time, China consolidated its position at the center of regional supply chains. From 2019 to 2023, India consistently voted alongside the U.S. at the United Nations - even on matters where strategic neutrality or regional balancing would have served us far better. Whether it was Israel, Iran, or Russia, we gave up our long-standing non-aligned credibility in favor of American approval - often at direct odds with our national interest. In the past few years, India has had the most pro-American Prime Minister in its history. We are rewarded with the highest tariffs the United States has ever imposed on any country. This is the direct consequence of surrendering leverage for instagram reels. So what must India do now? 1.  Audit Our Diplomats and Dealmakers (a very important point) : We must question - Who is negotiating on India’s behalf? How many of them have children who are U.S. citizens? How many hold Green Cards or U.S. investments? How many our backed by American Sponsored Think Tanks. No one with a personal stake in another country’s future should be allowed to compromise India’s sovereignty. 2. Re-enter Asian economic forums. Re-negotiate bilateral deals with ASEAN and Africa. 3. India must diversify its defense imports and invest heavily in indigenous R&D. No more “strategic hardware” without tech transfer. No more COMCASA-style deals that hand over control of our communication networks to foreign powers. 4. Strategic autonomy starts at home. Invest in Indian manufacturing, data infrastructure, green energy, and defense tech. Every rupee spent building internal strength is a rupee not spent begging for respect abroad. This isn’t about being anti-American. It’s about being pro-India. We’ve already surrendered enough.