evidence: In line with this popularization of foreign policy, Modi has redefined India’s identity on the world stage from a secular democracy to a Hindu civilizational state. [...] Yet, despite these transformative changes in grand strategy and geopolitics, Modi has not represented much shift. Like his predecessors, Modi has envisaged India as an independent pole in a multipolar world. And in the pursuit of that goal, Modi has also retained India’s long-standing policy of neutrality, non-alignment, and fence-sitting. [...] Even though Modi has made few changes to India’s long-standing strategy of neutrality and independence, his government faces a different set of incentives and interests from those faced by previous governments. As I argued in my 2021 book, "Flying Blind: India’s Quest for Global Leadership," the domestic policies and growth model of a liberal, secular, democratic India had given New Delhi much in common with the norms and values of the West. But in recent years, India’s domestic politics has given Modi increasing common ground instead with countries like China and Russia — on issues such as the regulation of human and business rights, the expansion of state control over sundry policy domains, and the containment of Western values in global governance.