Nehru’s Non-Alignment To Modi’s Multi-Alignment: How India Rewrote Its Foreign Policy Playbook

Last Updated:June 05, 2026, 08:40 IST

The core aim remains strategic autonomy, but the method has changed: India no longer stays away from power centres, it engages them simultaneously.

India’s foreign policy has always carried one core instinct: the desire to retain independent decision-making in a difficult world.

Under Jawaharlal Nehru, that instinct took the form of non-alignment, a Cold War-era doctrine that allowed a newly independent India to avoid formally joining either the US-led Western bloc or the Soviet-led communist bloc.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the same instinct has taken a different form. India, today, does not merely stay away from blocs; it works with multiple power centres at the same time.

As Modi nears the milestone of surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru as India’s longest democratically elected, continuously serving Prime Minister on June 10, 2026, this shift from Nehru’s non-alignment to Modi’s multi-alignment offers one of the clearest ways to understand how India’s global role has changed.

It is not a simple story of one doctrine replacing another. Rather, it is the story of India adapting the same broad objective — strategic autonomy — to two very different global orders.

What Was Nehru’s Non-Alignment Policy?

When India became independent in 1947, the world was entering the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union were emerging as rival superpowers, and countries across the world were being pushed to choose sides. For a newly independent India, still dealing with Partition, poverty, food insecurity, institutional rebuilding and the challenge of nation-making, becoming a camp follower of either side carried obvious risks.

Nehru’s answer was non-alignment. It did not mean that India had no views on global issues. Nor did it mean permanent neutrality. It meant that India would not formally attach itself to any military bloc and would judge international questions through its own national interest and moral-political worldview.

This approach gave India space. It allowed New Delhi to speak for decolonised and developing countries, oppose colonialism and racial discrimination, and avoid being drawn directly into superpower rivalry.

Nehru became one of the major figures associated with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), along with leaders such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, Indonesia’s Sukarno and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah.

Why Did Non-Alignment Suit India Then?

Nehru’s India was operating from a position of limited power. The economy was weak, defence capacity was still developing, and the country had little leverage in a global order dominated by two superpowers. The priority was to preserve sovereignty, secure development assistance, maintain diplomatic flexibility and prevent India from becoming a pawn in the Cold War.

But non-alignment had its limits. India was still a young country with limited economic and military strength, and the 1962 war with China showed that diplomatic principles had to be matched with stronger defence preparedness. Even so, non-alignment remained central to India’s foreign policy for decades.

How Is PM Modi’s Multi-Alignment Different?

Modi’s India operates in a very different world. The Cold War has ended, the Soviet Union no longer exists, China has emerged as India’s most serious long-term strategic challenge, and the global order is increasingly multipolar.

In this world, India has moved from non-alignment to multi-alignment – building issue-based partnerships with several countries at once, even when those countries have tensions with each other.

It is part of the Quad with the United States, Japan and Australia, while maintaining its long-standing strategic partnership with Russia. It deepens ties with the Gulf, expands engagement with Europe, pitches itself as a voice of the Global South and continues to participate in platforms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The Modi government’s approach has been to avoid dependency on any one power centre, while extracting value from multiple partnerships.

How Has The US Relationship Changed?

One of the biggest shifts in India’s foreign policy has been the expansion of ties with the United States. During the Cold War, India and the US often had a difficult relationship, especially because of Washington’s ties with Pakistan and India’s closeness with Moscow.

Today, the relationship is far broader. The US is a major partner for India in defence, technology, trade, education, diaspora links and Indo-Pacific strategy. The Quad — bringing together India, the US, Japan and Australia — has become one of the most visible platforms of India’s multi-alignment diplomacy.

For India, the Quad is not presented as a military alliance. It is framed around a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, maritime security, supply chains, critical technologies, health, climate and infrastructure. But its strategic meaning is clear: it gives India a platform to work with other major democracies at a time when China’s rise has reshaped Asia’s security environment.

This marks a major departure from the Nehruvian era, when India avoided being seen as part of any Western-led strategic formation. Under PM Modi, India has become more comfortable working with Western powers when its interests demand it, while still insisting that it will not become a treaty ally or subordinate partner.

Why Does Russia Still Matter?

The shift towards the US has not meant abandoning Russia. This is one of the clearest examples of India’s multi-alignment approach.

Russia remains an important defence partner for India, with decades-old military ties and equipment dependence. It is also important in energy, nuclear cooperation, space, fertilisers and geopolitical balancing. Even after the Ukraine war created intense pressure on countries to reduce engagement with Moscow, India continued to maintain its relationship with Russia while also calling for dialogue and peace.

This balancing act is central to Modi-era diplomacy. India has not accepted the idea that closer ties with Washington must require a complete break with Moscow. Instead, it has tried to preserve old partnerships while building new ones.

How Did India Use The G20 Platform?

Under Modi, India has also tried to position itself as a bridge between the developed world and the Global South. This became especially visible during India’s G20 presidency in 2023.

India hosted the Voice of Global South Summit in January 2023, bringing together developing countries to discuss shared concerns and priorities. During the G20 presidency, India pushed issues such as development, climate finance, digital public infrastructure, debt stress, food and energy security, and reform of global institutions.

The most visible diplomatic outcome was the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 during the New Delhi summit. India had proposed the move, and its acceptance gave New Delhi a major Global South credential.

This is where Modi’s multi-alignment differs from conventional great-power diplomacy. India is not only engaging the US, Russia, Europe or the Gulf. It is also trying to speak for countries that feel excluded from global decision-making.

What Is The Big Difference Between Nehru And Modi’s Foreign Policy?

The biggest difference is the world each leader had to deal with.

Nehru’s India was newly independent, economically fragile and diplomatically ambitious in a bipolar Cold War world. His foreign policy sought space, dignity and independence. Non-alignment allowed India to avoid becoming trapped in superpower rivalry and gave it a leadership role among post-colonial nations.

Modi’s India is larger, more economically confident and more integrated with the world. It faces a rising China, a changing US, an assertive Russia, wars in Europe and West Asia, supply-chain disruptions, energy shocks and competition over technology. Its diplomacy must therefore be more transactional, more active and more multi-directional.

Nehru’s non-alignment was about refusing to choose camps. Modi’s multi-alignment is about choosing multiple partnerships without surrendering autonomy.

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