India’s Fractured Image

Reading Time: 3 minutes India may be emerging as a major economic and geopolitical actor, but the narrative of a rising superpower is facing increasing resistance from its neighbours and foreign publics alike. While Delhi’s officials project ambition and confidence abroad, a growing number of countries, observers, and citizens view the Indian state and often its nationals with a mix of wariness, frustration, and, in some cases, hostility. Fraying Ties with Neighbours India’s long-touted “Neighbourhood First” policy is now largely in tatters. Once hailed as a stabilising force in South Asia, India now finds itself estranged from nearly all of its immediate neighbours. Bangladesh, under the newly-elected government of Professor Muhammad Yunus, has cooled significantly in its dealings with New Delhi following years of perceived political interference, border killings by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), and mounting anti-Bangladeshi narratives in the Indian media. In the Maldives, President Mohamed Muizzu has