Modi’s European tour marks a strategic shift

Ithe culture and civilization of India are our gift to the world. It is a composite culture spread throughout the world. It also influences how India engages in wworld, particularly the West, from the time of Alexander of Macedonin 326 BC.

Renowned Dutch scholar and Indologist Professor Dirk Kolff said: “Why should it be India, and not some other place on the face of the Earth, that should arouse so much curiosity among the Dutch? »

Indeed, having had the privilege of representing India in this beautiful country as its Ambassador, I believe it aptly encapsulates both countries’ enduring fascination with our histories and cultures and, as far as India is concerned, a fascination with our antiquity and diversity. That of Prime Minister Narendra Modi This visit reflects this mutual fascination.

A 400-year-old connection

Dutch footprints in India dates back over 400 years, when the first ship of the Dutch East India Company reached Kerala’s famous Malabar Coast, known as THE Spice Coast. There was no going back. Off the beaten track, remnants of the Dutch period in our history can be found all along the coastline, from Surat to Calcutta, as well as from Visakhapatnam to Kochi and Pulicat.

Successive Dutch envoys to India proudly recall that on August 15, 1947, the SO-The Dutch ambassador was among the three ambassadors present in Delhi When SO Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivered on famous speech “Rendezvous with destiny”.

The Prime Minister’s visit to the Netherlands has been long awaited. His recent visit, as part of a five-The national tour, which included UAE, Sweden, Norway, 3rd Indo-Nordic Summit and Italy, resulted in the improvement of bilateral relations with the The Netherlands in a strategic partnership. This has also added new dynamics to the India-EU partnership.

THE Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendson said the new strategic partnership would focus in the future on trade and investment, security, innovation and people-to-people ties.

MEA added that the visit would further focus on defence, security, green hydrogen, semiconductors and strategic partnership on water.

The Netherlands is one of India’s main trading destinations in Europe, with bilateral trade worth $27.8 billion during the 2024-2025 financial year. India is the fourth the largest investor with A a cumulative FDI of $55.6 billion.

Modi’s visit gave rise to several resultsincluding the signing of 17 agreements and the elevation of India-Netherlands ties to a ‘strategic partnership’ following bilateral talks with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten in The Hague.

The most important development in the bilateral negotiations was the contract between Tata Electronics and ASML to support semiconductor manufacturing plant in Dholera, Gujarat. Modi described the talks as an important step in India’s journey develop a semiconductor ecosystem. THE The Netherlands boasts one of the most advanced ecosystems in the world, with Dutch multinational ASML being the leading provider of high-precision lithography equipment, a key requirement in semiconductor chip manufacturing.

In a roundtable discussion with Dutch CEO, PM Modi said“The semiconductor chips will be manufactured in India using ASML’s equipment. Optimism towards India is clearly visible in everything you said today. We guarantee that this optimism will translate into a result.”

He added that 2026 marks the beginning of a new golden age in Indo-European relations.

“This year we signed the historic India-EU Free Trade Agreement. (ALE). This agreement, between the two greatest democratic powers in the world, will become a solid basis for shared prosperity,” Modi had said.

Meanwhile, the recovery of the “Chola Plates”considered one of the most important surviving documents of the dynasty, marked great cultural and historical significance for India. They had been has Leiden University since the mid-19th century. Their return had long been a pressing demand. They were brought to the Netherlands in 1712 by Florentius Camper, who was in India on a Christian missionary mission at the time when Nagapattinam was under Dutch control.

“A moment of joy for every Indian. The Chola copper plates, dating back to the 11th century, will be repatriated to India from the Netherlands. I participated in the ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Rob Jetton,” Modi wrote about.

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New strategic paradigms

On the political front, the joint statement highlighted the deep concern over the situation in West Asia. He noted its serious implications for the region and the worldincluding disruptions to global energy supplies and trade networks. The Dutch Prime Minister strongly condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack and expressed strong support to India in its fight against terrorism.

Commerce and business remain the most important elements of the relationship. The business-friendly corporate tax structure and excellent business climate have led most of India’s major IT companies to establish their offices in the Netherlands with impressive business portfolios, alongside Dishman Pharma, Synergy, Nucleaus and Bharti Airtel. The profile of Indian companies has gradually diversified and includes areas such as pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, oil and gas and optical media.

THE The Netherlands has the largest Indian community in continental Europe, outside of the United Kingdom. HAS 2,20,000, they are called the Hindustani community, which came to the Netherlands from India via Suriname. They are proud of their Indian heritage and culture.

The visit was rich in substance and content. It reflects the shared values ​​at the heart of the Indo-Dutch relationship, values ​​which must be nurtured, strengthened and consolidated. This also marks a new direction in India’s foreign policy, with India strengthening its strategic partnerships and forging new alliances.

By writing inside his cell as a political prisoner in fascist Italy after World War I, famous philosopher Antonio Gramsci declared: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old dies and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a wide variety of morbid symptoms appear. »

India is an emerging power. India is the world’s most populous country, having overtaken China in 2024. India is the world’s third largest economy measured in international prices (purchasing power parity), at $17 trillion.

This resulted in the development of new strategic paradigms. This also involved actively promoting the interests of developing economies, thereby becoming a “balancing power”. Modi has carefully followed what suits India’s vital national security interests. In a hostile neighborhood with two nuclear weapon countrythere are few other options for India.

Other changes are needed. It is time for India to address, as Pohl (2012) points out, “the question of its large power deficit, which appears to be less a question of capacity than of political will…India remains cautious about taking on global responsibilities that could impose limits on the options available for pursuing its own immediate national interests…”

India has been compared for too long the “gentle elephant” as opposed to the “Chinese dragon”. It is time to assert ourselves more while protecting our fundamental national interests.

India follows the philosophy of the Maha Upanishads, who says“Ayang nijah paro veti, Ganna laghu chetasaam. Udarcharitana tu vasudaiva kutumbakam. (It is mine, it is yours, this thought is for narrow minds. Only for generous hearts is the earth one family).”

This expression has become synonymous with India’s soft power and its growing international status.

Bharat would need to spread this message in the new emerging global disorder. Appealing to “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” appears to be the best option to protect international peace and security and restore a rules-based international order at a time when global disorder has become the norm.

Bhaswati Mukherjee is a retired IFS officer. She has served as India’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Paris and the Netherlands. Opinions are personal.

(Edited by Saptak Datta)