India’s Ties With South-East Asia: The Para-diplomacy Angle

In the past three decades, India’s state governments have emerged as key stakeholders in the country’s external linkages – specifically the economic aspect. The phenomenon of sub-national units/Non-Central Governments (NCGs) participating in a country’s foreign policy which is now a global trend is referred to commonly as ‘para-diplomacy’ or ‘constituent diplomacy’. There has been a growing interest in this phenomenon in recent years. 

India’s states began to woo foreign investors in the aftermath of the 1991 economic reforms, introduced by the then PV Narasimha Rao government and then India’s remarkable strides in the Information technology (IT) sector, since the late 1990’s. The last decade has been witness to several states in India not just organising investor’s summits, but summits focused on specific areas like infrastructure, semi-conductors, tourism etc. State governments have also begun to focus on countries and regions based on economic synergies, geographical factors and even historical and cultural linkages. 

Of late, several of India’s states have begun to focus on strengthening ties with the Association of South-East Asian (ASEAN) region – as part of India’s Act East Policy. While the Look East Policy was introduced in the early 1990’s after the path breaking economic reforms of 1991, the former Indian PM late Dr Manmohan Singh also gave a fillip to ties with Southeast Asia during his stint as PM between 2004-2014. Interestingly, Dr Singh’s first overseas visit was to Thailand in July 2004 in to attend the 1st Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit, while his last overseas visit was to Myanmar in March 2014 to attend the 3rd BIMSTEC Summit.

 Under current Indian PM Narendra Modi, the geographical scope and vision of Look East has been expanded and has been re-named as ‘Act East’. Apart from focusing on expediting key infrastructural projects in the North-East, which are important in terms of connectivity with South-East Asia, states like Assam have emerged as important players in the context of India’s ties with South-East Asia. 

While for very long, India’s states sought to strengthen linkages with Singapore and Malaysia several states have begun to reach out to other countries in South-East Asia – including Thailand and Indonesia. Assam’s Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, IT and Science and Technology of Government of Assam Keshab Mahanta visited Thailand in connection with holding a road show for the Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit to be held in February 2025 in Guwahati – the capital of Assam. He met with senior Thai officials and prominent Thai businessmen.

Role of Odisha in ties with ASEAN region

Another state which is likely to play an important role in India’s outreach towards South-East Asia is Odisha. Only recently, the 18th edition of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas was held at Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha from January 8-10, 2025. The flagship event of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India was held in partnership with the Government of Odisha.

The Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is celebrated bi-annually since 2003 to acknowledge the contribution of the Indian diaspora to India’s progress. 

While commenting on the role of Odisha in ties with the ASEAN region, India’s External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar made a reference to historical linkages between Odisha and Indonesia:

 “..as Foreign Minister, I also want to highlight the external impact of Odisha. The famous Bali Yatra is actually a precursor of what is today the Government of India’s Act East Policy. When we define ourselves as an Indo-Pacific nation, we do so from the Eastern seaboard of Odisha. This gathering should inspire you all to nurture more strongly our heritage, traditions and identity”.

The Bali Yatra festival which takes place in November commemorates Odisha’s maritime history and other linkages with the ASEAN region, especially Indonesia.

In a meeting with meeting with ASEAN envoys in October 2022, then Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while commenting on the role of Odisha in ties between India and ASEAN region had said:

“I hope that we can renew strong ties between our two regions. I hope that in the coming years we can further strengthen our trade ties, and not just that, I also hope that we can increase our cultural ties and come up with more cultural exchange programs”.

Singapore President, Tharman Shanmugratnam is also likely to visit Odisha during the course of his India visit slated from January 15-18, 2025. In November 2024, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Manjhi had visited Singapore and invited the Singapore President to visit Odisha. During the Singapore President’s visit to Odisha, possible synergies between Singapore and Odisha will be explored. The ASEAN country is keen to diversify its investments and Odisha given its economic potential could emerge as a favoured destination for Singapore.

In conclusion, the role of states in India’s ties with ASEAN will only help in strengthening India-ASEAN ties. It is important to see that more of India’s states especially are emerging as crucial actors in India’s ties with South-East Asia and that the states are beginning to pro-actively reach out to more ASEAN nations.

[Header image: Bali Yatra festival in cuttack, Odisha. Credit: Kamalakanta, via Wikimedia Commons]

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.