The west is desperate to take a chunk out of India's growth story. This is not out of any emotional love story. It is to secure their own future !!
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Even the worst of Narendra Modi critics - if keep hands on heart - can conceal the fact that India's moment has arrived. Political detractors and their ecosystem could be frustrated; but none can do much. So much frustration ruled the roost as Delhi Declaration came in, the permanent critics started finding faults with wifi speed or vegan foot style. The truth of the matter is foreign press including in the US, Europe and even Islamic countries have gone all praise.
There are geo-political reasons. For X Jinping, his staying away from the Summit has boomeranged, Namo seized the moment. Some examples and a few takeaways.
One, this was a great moment in India's diplomatic history without even bothering what Pakistan is doing, or what it has done in the past and the situation India's onetime belligerent western neighbour has landed. New Delhi hardly raised any Pakistan-related matters with western leaders including Joe Biden.
In fact, I spoke to a few journalists from across different countries. A scribe with a print outlet in Taiwan said, "Pakistan's propaganda on Kashmir hardly figured in this year's G20. It only shows a neo-confident India".
Another journalist -- incidentally not from Taiwan opined, "Perhaps India has missed an opportunity not to play Arunachal Pradesh music while welcoming Chinese delegation". Of course, the journo maintained the statement was in a lighter vein.
Why has the tide turned in India's and that way Narendra Modi's favour?
* Indian democracy is well appreciated notwithstanding nine years of constant media hype about intolerance. Those who screamed 'Manipur, Manipur' even two-three weeks before solely to embarrass Narendra Modi found themselves embarrassed at the end of the day.
** Something more important is the world realises that China cannot be a trusted friend in need. It creates debt trap instead. "Besides that, the economic crisis in China is more than it was perceived even two weeks back," analysed a European journalist posted in Singapore. She further said, "Mr Modi-led India on the other hand is witnessing consumer boom. The digital payments and rise in online business is pretty good".
*** Today, India is a 'perfect candidate' for the west to partner with; and for Global South to trust New Delhi and its leadership.
*** ‘Brand India’ — and Modi — take center stage at G-20 summit :: headline in 'The Washington Post'
"Faced with a world polarized into increasingly adversarial blocs, Indian officials hope to rise above the divisions as their country hosts the summit for the leaders of the Group of 20 largest economies, including President Biden, this weekend. Modi’s India aims to draw attention to its remarkable growth and role as a “Vishwa Guru,” or “Global Leader.”--- says the leading newspaper. The paper had another article under the catchy headline:
G20 Summit is a huge global branding exercise for Modi's India.
Dr S Jaishankar at his press conference on Saturday underlined some of the important cantours of today's diplomatic reality. Something has changed even in the last nine months. There is a sign of India's growing influence.
Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and also Turkey came to the aid of those who slogged for hours to ensure a Delhi Declaration and with 100 percent consensus.
Kurt Campbell, Biden’s Indo-Pacific aide and tsar, said in July, “It is no secret that India is one of most sought-after players on the global stage.”
The fact of the matter is at the G20 Delhi Summit, not many countries were in a position to say no to India.
"Watered-down G20 statement on Ukraine is sign of India’s growing influence"
- Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor, 'The Guardian'
Going into the summit, there had been three options facing the leaders: a lowest-common-denominator agreement (the eventual outcome), a statement with footnotes allowing some countries to disown parts of the agreement, or no declaration. Critically, it does not repeat the statement in Bali that most countries condemn Russia’s invasion, or that Russia should withdraw its troops unconditionally and immediately.
India’s external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, did not seem too bothered to justify the outcome. “Bali was Bali. New Delhi is Delhi. Bali was a year ago, the situation was different. Many things have happened since then,” he said.
Not so famous 'four' ::: Who worked behind the scenes and made Delhi Declaration -- finally a dream come true
There were four Indian Foreign Services officers who worked relentlessly.
Ms Enam Gambhir and three others Abhay Thakur, Ashish Sinha, Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur had 200 hours of non-stop negotiations and held 300 bilateral meetings.
Once it became clear that Ukraine was the most complex part of the entire Declaration, it is understood that they circulated 15 'drafts' of the Delhi declaration with their counterparts on the Ukraine Conflict.
The 2005 batch IFS, Eenam Gambhir, the only woman officer
in the team, writes poems in Spanish, English and Hindi. But how much of poetic skills came handy is not quite clear. She is currently Joint Secretary G20.
She has served as a senior advisor on Peace and Security issues in the Office of the President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN HQ in New York. Ms Gambhir has also served in embassies in Latin America including in Mexico and Argentina.
A fluent Spanish speaker, she has dealt with issues relating to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran working in New Delhi from 2011 to 2016. She also served in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. She holds two Master’s degrees; one in maths from Delhi University and another in international security from the University of Geneva.
Eenam Gambhir also worked on UN economic and social issues during her probation time in New Delhi in 2007.
Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur is a Joint Secretary, and the lead negotiator on the Ukraine conflict paragraphs. Known as a fluent Chinese speaker, Naidu has multilateral experience as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The 1998 batch, IFS, he has handled the MEA’s Economic Diplomacy division and headed the Europe West Division where he was in charge of ties with major G7 countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the European Union.
Abhay Thakur is Additional Secretary in the MEA. He reportedly learnt the Russian language as part of his training; – this came in handy this time.
He has been the Sous-sherpa, No. 2 to India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant. He has been India’s envoy to Mauritius and Nigeria, and has handled Nepal and Bhutan earlier.
Ashish Sinha is also from 2005 batch IFS. Fluent in Spanish, Ashish Sinha has served in Madrid, Kathmandu, New York and Nairobi. He also worked as a desk officer for Pakistan.
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