Diaspora as a soft power in India’s foreign policy towards Singapore

ABSTRACT India’s connections with Southeast Asia are rooted in history in terms of geography, civilization, culture, economy and strategy. These connections became deeper since the 1990s as India initiated the policy of ‘Look East’ that resulted in manifold growth with ASEAN and Singapore. The initiation of ‘Look East Policy’ opened the door for Singaporean Indians for investments and interaction with their motherland. Through the ‘Look East Policy’ the distance between India and ASEAN ended and India was connected with this region and especially Singapore through trade relations. With this policy, India was able to enter this region and this was the chance for the Indian people to revitalize and energize their social and cultural bonds with their motherland (Pande 2017). These relations were further intensified after 2014 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched ‘Act East Policy’. While ‘Look East Policy’ was launched by India in the backdrop of the critical economic situation, the ‘Act East Policy’ is aimed at strengthening our relations in terms of cultural, political and strategic dimensions. Therefore, this paper aims to study and analyse the role of the Indian diaspora as a soft power for making strong bilateral bonds between India and Singapore with special reference to the political and economic scenario.