A
Hundred Days of Modi Diplomacy
By
T.P.Sreenivasan
A
mixed bag of triumphs and trials in foreign policy marked the first hundred
days of the Modi Government. The list includes an unprecedented invitation to
SAARC leaders and the Prime Minister of Mauritius to attend the swearing-in of
the new Government, a visit to India’s steadfast friend, Bhutan, support to
BRICS and its New Bank, assertion of friendship to Russia, stress on economic
and commercial ties in a meeting with the Chinese President, a signal that
India would be even handed between Israel and Palestine, even while reiterating
support for the Palestinian cause, meetings with three Ministers from the
United States, rejection of the WTO Agreement as it endangers food security
plans in India, a historic visit to Nepal, an invitation to the world to
manufacture in India and a decision to resume the dialogue with Pakistan and
its cancellation and shying away from signing a trade agreement with ASEAN. As
he completes a hundred days, Modi has paid a game changing visit to Japan and meetings
with the leaders of Australia, China and the US are on the cards.
A
new comer to diplomacy, Modi has taken care to stress continuity, but without
making it a fetish. He let the MEA mandarins prepare their briefs and used them
to great effect in his conversations, echoing more or less the same language
that Manmohan used. The strategy is to appear steadfast in the consensus
positions, which have evolved over the years. Instead of formulating and
announcing new policies in advance, he has decided to let his thinking to
evolve as he meets world leaders and measures the efficacy of the present
policy. For the present, he spoke about terrorism to Pakistan, the need for a
political solution of the Tamil issue to Sri Lanka, illegal migration to
Bangladesh and generally stressed the primacy of India in South Asia.
Continuity for him is an anchor, as he comes to grips with each situation and
develops his own nuance for it. Like in the case of the nuclear doctrine, which
BJP had vowed to review, he has resorted to the argument of continuity and
national consensus to maintain status quo.
Modi,
however, is keen to put his stamp on diplomacy. Innovation in diplomacy is
already visible in Modi’s moves. The invitation to SAARC leaders for the
swearing in was innovative and their actual arrival was a triumph. Distancing
himself from the neighbourhood policy of his predecessors, he made the
innovation that India will fight poverty with SAARC and rise with SAARC in the
global arena. This is a calculated risk, given the history of the bedeviled
relations that India has with several neighbours. He tried his personal diplomacy with Nawaz
Sharif, bringing in the two mothers and exchanging gifts for them. Similar innovative
contacts may have been initiated with the other leaders. He is known to choose
personal gifts for his counterparts.
Innovation
was very much on display during his visit to Nepal. The most dramatic was his
offer to Nepal to consider any change that Nepal may want to see in the Treaty
of 1950. This was a way of confronting the issue squarely and finding a
solution his predecessors had shied away from in the past.
The
decisiveness, which Modi has shown in taking domestic political decisions could
be seen in his diplomacy also. After agreeing to resume talks with Pakistan,
marking a departure from India’s position that talks were contingent upon
action against terrorists, Modi did not hesitate to call off the talks when
Pakistan went back to its old ways of hobnobbing with Kashmiri dissidents. Continuity
came to his rescue when he put forward the Simla Agreement and Lahore
Declaration the basis of the dialogue in the future. The decision to block a
debate in the Rajya Sabha on Palestine even at the risk of paralyzing the Upper
House was a part of his decisiveness. Equally, he did not hesitate to vote in
favour of Palestine at the UN Human Rights Council, when he realized a change
in Palestine policy would not be nationally acceptable in the face of the ongoing
Gaza war. He stunned the Americans and the rest of the world by standing firm
on the WTO issue at a time when the strategic partnership with the US was being
discussed.
Secretiveness
and the element of surprise in announcing decisions marks the Modi style of
diplomacy. From being a voluble politician, Modi became a reticent statesman.
He does not believe that he needs to explain each of his actions in diplomacy
and open it to scrutiny by the press and the public. The process of
decision-making will remain private even after the decisions are announced. He
made a departure from the established practice of wining and dining journalists
on board his flights precisely because he did not want to be influenced by the
prejudices and predilections of the press. At the same time, he does not
maintain the sphinx like silence of his immediate predecessor. His activism in
the social media has made him less dependent on the conventional media to
spread his message. Messages in social media are carried without the interference
of editorial scissors and pressures of time and space. His visuals with
sartorial signals like different garbs and headgears also convey a vibrant
image. In other words, his silence and speeches are measured and orchestrated
for maximum effect.
The
Modi mystique remains even after his hundred days in office because the control
he exercises on information and his continuous visibility. China and the United
States may be unsure as of now what they can really accomplish in their
encounters with Modi in September. They will articulate their positions on the
basis of the general framework of his policy approaches, which have been
outlined. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did precisely that when he outlined the
co-production proposal as bait to get defense contracts. China will naturally
stress investments in infrastructure and trade. Still in the stage wooing India
in the formative stage of the new Government
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