New Delhi
The gentleman's game cricket has found relevance in another world of 'gentlemen' - diplomacy.
India's articulate and suave External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar gave the analogy of cricket on Friday to drive home the point on how Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains a good taskmaster and how he gives leverage to performing colleagues. But it goes without saying the PM would accept his bowlers to take wickets.
",,,,Captain Modi does give his bowlers a certain amount of freedom," the External Affairs Minister said during an interactive session with former UK PM Tony Blair and former England cricket star Kevin Pietersen at the Raisina Dialogue, the flagship think-tank event organised by the ORF and the Ministry of External Affairs.
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The Minister also said, Mr Modi "expects you to take that wicket, if he gives you the chance (to perform).
To a question on the functioning of the government, Dr Jaishankar said, "With Captain (PM) Modi the net practice starts at 6 in the morning and goes on till fairly late".
''I think in that sense, captain Modi does give his bowlers a certain amount of freedom. He expects you to take that wicket if he gives you the chance to do it. But I would also say some of it is watching the difficult decisions being taken. The decision to lockdown was a very tough decision, it has to be taken. If we now look back, what would have happened if we had not taken that decision?" he said.
Jaishankar also said, "If you have a particular bowler you have trust in or you have a particular bowler you have trust in or you have seen perform you would give them the latitude, you throw the ball to them at the right moment".
The foreign minister also made a reference to blockbuster film 'RRR' while describing the relations between India and the UK.
"The most popular film in India last year was 'RRR', it has to do with the British era... The fact is when you have such complex history, there would be a downside to it, there would be suspicions, unresolved problems," he said.
"I would put it delicately, but you were the nice guys in the movie," Jaishankar said in a lighter vein.
With Mr Tony Blair present, when the discussions moved to India becoming a bigger economy than
Britain and also dominating cricket, Dr Jaishankar said, "I would call it rebalancing. It is the history which is
switch-hitting, it's hitting the other way... India today is in a very unusual position, once more decisively
upwardly mobile which a lot of other civilisational states aren't in a position to do".
Dr Jaishankar said another tough call for the Modi government was in 2021 when India sent
vaccines to nearly 100 countries when there was a lot of questioning within the country.
“It was a tough call. Whether it is sports or any competitive situation it is the willingness to take the
difficult call, stand by those calls, give the people the confidence that you will stand by them
when they take the risks. This is all about competition and leadership,” he explained.
In fact, over the months now Dr Jaishankar has emerged as a key voice in the Modi government
articulating the points lucidly either defending the government or ventilating the BJP's nationalistic
stances on many critical issues.
No doubt, Mike Pompeo, former US Secretary of State, has recently in his book described Dr Jaishankar
as a "fierce defender of his boss and his country".
ends
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