In his book ‘The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World’, Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar opines: ‘It is only when a national elite has a strong and validated sense of its bottom lines that it will take a firm stand when these are challenged. So, whether it is an issue of violation of sovereignty or infringement of borders, an ability to respond categorically can come from this inherent self-belief. Asserting national interests and securing strategic goals through various means is the dharma of a state, as indeed it was of an individual warrior.”
A former diplomat who served as India’s Foreign Secretary, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was inducted into the Narendra Modi Cabinet as a Union Minister of External affairs in 2019. Prior to diving into the political sphere, he served as the Indian Ambassador to the United States, China and the Czech Republic. He has also been India’s High Commissioner to Singapore (2007–09). Jaishankar played a key role in negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement.
During his education at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jaishankar had been part of a student organisation, called ‘Free Thinkers’, which was not affiliated to any political party, but was a forum to debate all ideologies. Incidentally, his fellow JNU alumna and present Cabinet colleague Nirmala Sitharaman was also part of this grouping.
Recently, Jaishankar said that leaders across the world were “envious” of the connection PM Modi has with people at diaspora events organised on his foreign visits. “I was India’s Ambassador in the US during the Madison Square event.
It is widely accepted that the event held on September 28, 2014 was a watershed event. Prime Minister Modi was invited to the US by President (Barack) Obama on a congratulatory phone call. Incidentally, when I had called him up from there, he was in Vadodara on the day of the (Lok Sabha 2014) results, and just about to go up the stage (at Khanderao Market, where he delivered his first speech after the win),” Jaishankar said.
As the son of K Subrahmanyam, the father of modern strategic thought in India, Jaishankar certainly has the right pedigree, but he has chalked out his own destiny and career.
As MEA’s joint secretary for the Americas, he had been involved in the intensive negotiations for the India-US nuclear deal during the UPA Government. In the initial months and years of talks following the broadbrush agreement of July 2005, when the US tried to claw back some of the concessions it had made and demand more from the Indian side, Jaishankar and the Department of Atomic Energy were frequently at loggerheads.
Jaishankar, for example, believed the DAE’s insistence on keeping its fast-breeder reactor project out of the purview of international safeguards would be a deal-breaker. This and other divisions on the Indian side were finally bridged only when the National Security Advisor MK Narayanan backed the DAE’s position.
Jaishankar, who was honoured with India’s fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri, also played a key role in improving the defence cooperation between India and the US. His tenure as India’s Ambassador to China coincided with several major developments in bilateral relations. In 2010, Jaishankar negotiated an end to the Chinese policy of issuing stapled visas to Indians from Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, when India was facing charges that it was buying Russian energy resources while the international community was seeking sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the EAM’s bold retort was factual, logical and intellectual. He stated that if the EU member countries could continue to buy Russian oil despite sanctions, why India was being asked to stop its minimal imports from Russia, several times less than the EU imports from Russia.
It is his ability to explain India and its policies in a convincing way that has led the US, the EU, Japan, Australia and many other countries to understand and appreciate India’s policies and positions on the Ukrainian issue as well as other critical developments impacting the current global order.
A scholar-cum-diplomat-cum-political leader, Jaishankar today represents an India that has come a long way from the early days of Independence to play an important role in global affairs in its capacity as an economic powerhouse, resilient democracy and nuclear weapon power.
