Well SICKULARISM's favourite 'sacred cow' has been questioned again : But its run up to make it or wreck it polls:: Jaishankar's book "sets the stage for the long overdue historicisation of Indian foreign policy", says 'Indian Express' article

'Indian Express' as a newspaper is hardly a friend of BJP or admirer of the Moditva. Rather the reputation is of a 'Sickularism club' and quite often there is an alleged slant to project Rahul Gandhi and his Congress party as a saviour of Indian democracy ! There is an attempt to justify anti-CAA protest etc etc  

It is not often that a sitting foreign minister writes a book on the nature and direction of a nation’s foreign policy. Jaishankar argues that the analytical community and the political class have not fully grasped India’s foreign policy transformation in the Modi years, and hence, the need for the incumbent foreign minister to lay out the contours of the extraordinary changes that have been set in motion, says an 'Indian Express' article.  

Penned by eminent expert C Raja Mohan, the article says "Jaishankar’s critique of Jawaharlal Nehru’s “naivete” on Pakistan and China and his “ideological predilections” against the West is not made from the easy benefits of clear hindsight." 

He (Jaishankar) draws on the perspective of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jan Sangh hero Syama Prasad Mookerjee, scholar-politician and Dalit leader B R Ambedkar, and intellectual Minoo Masani, who were questioning Nehru’s choices when they were being made in the 1950s. 

"His evaluation of the “roads not taken” in India’s foreign policy during the early years after independence will trigger much political controversy, but it sets the stage for the long overdue historicisation of Indian foreign policy," says Raja Mohan. 

The Minister gave an interview to ANI's Smita Prakash on Jan 2 (2024) and also shared his point of view : 

"...the Democracy narrative (as propounded by foreign powers and foreign organisations) is also a mind game. There are people who apparently feel more confident of their support outside India then inside India.....We had this from 2014, it increased in 2019, I am sure it will become very shrill as we lead up to the Summer of 2024...who will constantly will say ...You are less of a democracy. They will pick what they believe are our flaws".  

The Minister also said --- "...We must have the confidence to judge it, I am not saying we are perfect.... But look at their agenda, they are not agenda-less, they are not motive-less. They are trying to push certain line, because there are certain interest....so don't necessarily take what comes in the foreign media at face value".  

He even went to the extent of saying, in fact Indian democracy is so much better that it is India in contrast which can pass judgement on other democracies. 

To a question why and how India has not been doing so. Dr Jaishankar kept his response laced with sarcasm. "You know, we are very dignified people," he said.  

Answering questions, Dr Jaishankar also said -- that he has tried to analyse the views of other leaders in 1940s and 1950s. For example - Sardar Patel on China, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee on Pakistan (Kashmir), Dr Ambedkar - on China and America.

"Not many people how strongly he (Ambedkar) was disturbed by the manner in which our relationship with the US did not fare well in that period...Minoo Masani I refer to in terms of where sometimes the practice of Non-alignment can end up doing...I have tried to be very objective".  

"My purpose of writing that chapter is to remind people - look what you take as a given ... this was the only course which India could have followed may not be true. That time, many years ago there were very intense debate...After all these ar three key relationships - China, Pakistan and America...". 

 

Now, Raja Mohan in his article says: "The evaluation of the ‘roads not taken’ in India’s foreign policy during the early years after independence in ‘Why Bharat Matters’ will trigger much political controversy. But it helps us break away from the perspective that everything we did in the past was the correct choice for that moment".

"Although the many significant changes in Indian foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been impossible to ignore, the public debates on India’s international relations at home and abroad have remained rooted in frameworks inherited from the past. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s new book, Why Bharat Matters, which is being launched today, should help close the gulf between Indian foreign policy practice and the discourse on it.

It is not often that a sitting foreign minister writes a book on the nature and direction of a nation’s foreign policy. Jaishankar argues that the analytical community and the political class have not fully grasped India’s foreign policy transformation in the Modi years, and hence, the need for the incumbent foreign minister to lay out the contours of the extraordinary changes that have been set in motion." 

Then again, he notes: "At the heart of the book is a rare reflection on the sources of India’s past diplomatic difficulties in engaging Pakistan, China, and the United States — the three most important accounts of Indian diplomacy. Many of these problems have been debated over the decades in the Indian foreign policy community — if only in muted tones. Jaishankar now offers a stark assessment of the consequences, intended and unintended, of the choices that India made in the 1950s."

Jaishankar’s critique of Jawaharlal Nehru’s “naivete” on Pakistan and China and his “ideological predilections” against the West is not made from the easy benefits of clear hindsight. He draws on the perspective of Vallabhbhai Patel, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, B R Ambedkar, and Minoo Masani, who were questioning Nehru’s choices when they were being made in the 1950s. 

His evaluation of the “roads not taken” in India’s foreign policy during the early years after independence will trigger much political controversy, but it sets the stage for the long overdue historicisation of Indian foreign policy, says Raja Mohan.

The article also says, the book and the chapter will help to 

-- "break away from the conventional perspective that everything we did in the past was the correct choice for that moment. Jaishankar’s account of how India today traverses those very roads that Nehru rejected provides important insights into Delhi’s current approach to Islamabad, Beijing and Washington — ending the ambiguity on Kashmir’s status within India, turning to hard-nosed realism on China, and pursuing practical engagement with the US and the West."

"The small tribe of realists in the Indian foreign policy community will note that Jaishankar has chosen to highlight what has been hiding in plain sight: the many transformations in India’s foreign policy and its decisive break from the Nehruvian worldview. 

While historians will have their eventual say on the conduct of India’s foreign policy over the last decade, Jaishankar’s first-hand account of its evolution will necessarily become the starting point for reflecting on India’s international relations in the Modi years," aptly puts Dr Jaishankar. 

"To be sure, the reorientation of India’s foreign policy began in 1991. The collapse of the old economic order in India, the rise of economic globalisation, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War presented a new set of strategic imperatives for India. Economic reforms that began in the early 1990s steadily enhanced India’s power potential, but Delhi seemed hesitant to break from old modes of thinking. 

Lingering assumptions and anxieties from the past imparted a tentativeness to Delhi’s engagement with the world and prevented it from taking full advantage of India’s emerging possibilities," notes Raja Mohan. 

Jaishankar’s delineation of the deliberate and bold foreign policy departures in the last decade is about ending India’s “historic hesitations” in dealing with the world. The book will be of wide interest amidst India’s rise on the global stage and its new salience in regional and international politics, he says.

Now coming back to Dr Jaishankar's interview to ANI, he further says: "Today as you look at those three accounts (Patel's views on China, Mookerjee on Pakistan/Kashmir and Dr Ambedkar on US), I will suggest you that a lot of what they had to say may be had more merits than people thought at that time".  

Raja Mohan also notes -- "Jaishankar’s account goes beyond the “what” and “how” of India’s new foreign policy under Modi. He also delves into the “why” of India’s transformation — the very different worldview that Modi has brought to bear, a new sense of self-assurance, and a determination to pursue a foreign policy that puts “India first”."

"One important part of the foreign policy transformation has been the quest to dig deep into India’s tradition and culture and build a new intellectual scaffolding to buttress a foreign policy rooted in realism," says the article. 

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