Will Open University Of Foreign Policy, Set Up Global Forum Against Terrorism, Says BJP in Manifesto

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Amit Shah on Monday released the ruling BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and announced that it will set up the first ever University of Foreign Policy if voted to power.

While the manifesto does not specify the location of the university, BJP said that the institute will be solely focused on “academic study and research on foreign policy and geopolitical issues relevant to India and capacity building of our and friendly foreign diplomats.”

Further, the BJP promised assistance to states under their international outreach program for economic development. “We will increase the strength of the diplomatic and allied cadres to keep pace with our increasing global engagement and enhanced stature of India in the world. In addition, we will facilitate the participation of experts in foreign policy-making through a robust mechanism,” the BJP noted in its manifesto.

Without naming Pakistan, the saffron party also said that it was committed to taking steps to isolate countries supporting terrorism at the global level. “Our new policy, new doctrine of striking terror in its origin has received global recognition,” Arun Jaitley said at launch of BJP manifesto.

“To ensure this, we will work towards establishing a ‘Comity of Nations against International Terrorism’ as a voluntary multi-lateral forum based on the principles of the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism,” the manifesto read.

The party has also promised to create the ‘International Space Technology Alliance’ for better coordination and cooperation on issues related to space technology. This will be done in order to ensure that the benefits of space technology reach all, especially the smaller countries, BJP said.

The BJP manifesto also stated that the party is committed to seeking a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council and will pursue cooperation against “global evils” through “forums like UN, the G20, BRICS, SCO, Commonwealth, among others”.

Significant interactions such as the Russia- India-China (RIC) and the Japan-America-India (JAI) will be strengthened, it added. “To forward our ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, we will extensively leverage forums such as BIMSTEC to accelerate regional coordination and economic co-operation with countries in our neighbourhood. Act East Policy, cooperation with ASEAN and ensuring an open, inclusive, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific will be pursued vigorously,” the manifesto stated.