277: Modi and the Indian Ocean: Restoring India’s Sphere of Influence
Chilamkuri Raja Mohan, Visiting Research Professor, ISAS
20 March 2015
For
nearly
half
a
century,
India’s
political
approach
to
the
Indian
Ocean
seemed
a
well
-
defined
one.
It
was
defined
in
the
wake
of
the
decision
in
the
late
-
1960s
by
Great
Britain
to
withdraw
its
forces
from
the
east
of
Suez.
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
has
now
stepped
forward
to
outline
a
bold
and
different
framework
duri
ng
his
visit
to
Seychelles
and
Mauritius
in
March
2015.
The
context
and
the
assumptions
of
Modi’s
Indian
Ocean
policy
are
fundamentally
different
from
those
that
guided
Delhi
from
the
late
-
1960s.
Confronted
with
a
definitive
moment
in
the
history
of
Indian
Ocean
quite
early
on
in
her
tenure
as
Prime
Minister
,
Indira
Gandhi
had
rejected
the
notion
of
a
‘
power
vacuum
’
in
the
Indian
Ocean,
expressed
concern
at
new
great
p
ower
rivalry
in
the
littoral
and
asked
all
major
powers
to
withdraw
from
the
Indian
Ocean.
She
also
supported
the
proposal
for
the
creation
of
a
zone
of
peace
in
the
littoral
and
was
reluctant
to
offer
security
support
to
other
nations.
2
This
approach
fitted
with
India’s
self
-
perception
as
a
nonaligned
and
T
hird
W
orld
state.