Round The
World
New Delhi, 2 August 2019
The New Foreign Minister
Diplomatic Deftness Vs Political Acumen
By Dr D.K. Giri
(Prof. International Politics, JMI)
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
has been the ‘most surprise’ choice of our Prime Minister, as the Foreign
Minister, in Modi 2:0 Cabinet. By now, we all know that Modi is capable of
springing surprises every now and then, in policy making, government formation,
and appointment to other key positions and so on. No problem there. But if some
surprises militate against the fundamental organising principle of democracy,
we may have to worry about its long-term consequences.
Let me share the
source of my discomfiture and apprehension that prompted me to do this piece. It
was the remark of a senior politician, who rose from grassroots to be an MLA
for 20- odd years, a Cabinet Minister in the State for 15 plus years, Chief
Minister for a year and Member of Parliament now in his fourth term. He made a
serious point on democracy, in passing, as I assist him with research support
in his parliamentary works. He said, “Dr. Giri, you, as an intellectual could
be my advisor, a sounding-board, you cannot be my leader, as you are not
elected by the people”. I grudged a bit as my instant but quiet reaction was
that merit may not get due recognition if election becomes the sole criterion.
This is exactly what
is being cited and commended: ‘Modi chooses merit over other considerations’ in
the appointment of Dr. Jaishankar, the former Foreign Secretary. But, as a
student of politics, I saw the veteran politician’s point, and he was spot on,
that in democracy what comes first is people’s mandate. It is another matter
that due to various practical distortions and structural anomalies in our
electoral system, not-so-desirable candidates get elected.
Surely, we cannot
throw the baby (democratic norms) with the bath water (unwanted winners). Can
we? Our leaders seem to be doing the same. As they do not find talented
leaders, they are drafting them from other professions, beyond the electoral
(democratic) process. The late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi started this
process, and the present Prime Minister is copying him.
Rajiv Gandhi brought
in quite a few individuals and made them Ministers. Prominent among them is Dr.
Manmohan Singh, who went to become the Prime Minister for 10 years, two
consecutive terms, without winning any election. He is, indubitably, one of the
most qualified persons, was the most educated Prime Ministers of the world. But
look at his leadership as the PM, it leaves a lot to desire. He was “an
accidental Prime Minister”, said his media advisor, in a book, and many
commentators regarded him as a lame-duck Prime Minister.
Is the present
situation or appointment comparable? Will Jaishankar prove to be a weakling of
the Prime Minister? As a civil servant he was a policy wonk, an astute thinker,
a talented diplomat. He has had a great personal equation with Modi. When he
was an ambassador in China, Modi visited the country to apprise himself of
Chinese model of growth and development. Modi was in USA as the Prime Minister
after his visa ban, and Jaishankar was then the Ambassador in Washington DC.
Then he was brought
as a Foreign Secretary by Modi in supersession of his senior in the Foreign
Service. He served ably for three years including an extension of one year.
After his retirement, he was heading the global affairs department of Tata
until Modi won a bigger victory in Parliament elections and called Jaishankar
back as the Minister for External Affairs. Observers point out that it has not
happened for the first time. K. Natwar Singh was MoS in the same Ministry. He
too was a career diplomat. Anyway, Natwar Singh’s stint as a Minister was not
so commendable; he left the party afterwards and spilled the beans about the 1st
family of the Congress, namely Sonia Gandhi. Not a happy ending to his
political career.
At any rate, why do I
pick Jaishankar when Modi has five Ministers in the Cabinet with bureaucratic background?
Jaishankar comes from my alma mater,
in-news Jawaharlal Nehru University; from an able bureaucratic family; his
father was an IAS officer with deep knowledge of defence matters, headed Indian
Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis for 13 years or so. While I wish
Jaishankar well in his new position and tasks, I am taking him as a case in
point for two reasons.
First, he is
individually and professionally highly competent, and second, foreign affairs is
considered to be ‘high politics’, too sophisticated to be comprehended by
traditional politicians. These two reasons would perhaps have prompted Modi to choose
Jaishankar to be the Minister of External Affairs, and thereby a member of the
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
Again these two
points are contentious, seen from a political-democratic perspective. When a
Minister is chosen by a party-in-government, the individual should have
embraced the ethos, ideology, perspectives and policies of the party. This is a
simple, universally accepted political parameter, which a politically astute
Prime Minister Modi should not miss. Having said that and disappointed to see
that, in competitive electoral, majoritarian politics, the numbers matter.
So even BJP, ‘a party
with a difference’ is accommodating anybody into the party regardless of any
party political scruples. This is ‘compulsion of numbers’, as Manmohan Singh
reckoned with ‘coalition compulsion’ in compromising with things that he
perhaps did not want to. Without such political grooming and grounding, even a
fine diplomat like Jaishankar may dither.
Let me illustrate
this point. In Raisina Dialogue in 2018, the former US General David Petraeus
said, “India has to decide; India has to take side, in the new world order
shaped by rising China and resurgent Russia”. Jaishankar is said to have
replied, “India indeed must take a side -- its own one”. Here is the moot
point. Is this BJP-led government’s position? Such a stand reminds one of
non-alignment, neutrality, etc.
From an
anti-colonialism, then non-alignment, then engagement, and now to taking
positions,
India’s foreign
policy has evolved. Jaishankar has worked with the BJP-led governments for 10
years and 30 years with non-BJP (mostly Congress) governments.
The other reason is
the so-called high politics of foreign affairs, what are the objectives of our
foreign policy. They are to promote our national interest, ensure our security,
safeguard our sovereignty, contribute to our growth and prosperity, enhance our
stature, influence, and role in the comity of nations. These are aspirations
that can be articulated by those who have lived through conditions obtaining
across the country. These are experiential wisdom and aspirations which can be
gained only from the ground where democracy rests. One wonders, if bureaucrats
who leaf through files and spend all their time in conferences and meetings can
imbibe these people’s aspirations. I would like to be wrong. But am I?---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
|