B.R.Ambedkar's Perspective Of Indian Foreign Policy: A Critique Of Nehruvian Model

Abstract

Foreign policy consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interest. It is a plan of action employed by one nation with regard to its diplomatic dealings with other state and non-state actors. After independence, India under its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru followed the self-aggrandizement model of foreign policy. He had introduced all his idealism into Indian foreign policy, assuming that India would be benefitted by playing an active role in international affairs. While most leaders both within and outside Congress party obliged and admired Nehru on foreign policy question, very few critiqued it to offer an alternative model. B R Ambedkar, a member of opposition accused Nehruvian foreign policy as formulated to resolve the issues of other countries rather than focusing on India's critical international issues.  His vision on foreign policy stands diametrically opposite to that of Nehru’s policy on the question of Second World War, UNO, non-Alignment, Third World activism, Communism, Western liberalism, the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc.  It is the need of the hour to bring into light Ambedkar’s perspective on Indian foreign policy in comparison with Nehru’s model and to enquire the rationale of it; What would have been India’s position, if it had followed Ambedkar’s thought on Indian foreign policy? This paper critically examines the Indian foreign policy under Nehru and presents an alternative model of Indian foreign policy from the perspective of Ambedkar.