India's new face for the
world By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - After nearly a year, India has
a new foreign minister in Pranab Mukherjee. The
post has been vacant since last November because
of the exit of Natwar Singh, who was forced to
resign after allegations of corruption in dealings
with Iraq.
Mukherjee's replacement as
defense minister is A K Antony, thrice chief
minister of the southern state of Kerala and known
for his "clean" reputation. This is considered
important in a ministry such as Defense, which is
seen as mired in corruption, due to the
huge
arms deals and middlemen that are used to tilt
decisions.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
who was looking after foreign affairs, had hinted
at least thrice in the recent past about a new
incumbent in the Foreign Ministry, given the
arduous task of chaperoning India's relations with
the world, including the US and the vexed Indo-US
nuclear deal that hangs by a thread at the US
Congress.
Several names were doing the
rounds over the past few weeks that included
veteran Congress Party politicians with good
records, such as S M Krishna, Karan Singh, Kapil
Sibal and Kamal Nath.
In the end, it seems
that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and
Manmohan favored Mukherjee, despite his reported
reluctance to take up the post, given the hectic
travel schedules and his keenness to be involved
in domestic government functioning as head of
several groups of ministers.
It is clear
that Manmohan and Sonia want the meticulous,
practical and hard-working Mukherjee to be in the
thick of things, a role he can effectively perform
as head of the Foreign Ministry. That office now
acts as a multidimensional window to the rest of
the world, as India begins to assert its position
as an economic and political powerhouse.
Mukherjee has been overseeing government
decisions closely, is well versed with the various
policy frameworks and is expected to act as a
crucial bridge to the Commerce and Finance
ministries, even as foreign ties get increasingly
inter-linked to economic relationships.
It
effectively cements Mukherjee's position as the
number two in the government, without actually
naming him as deputy prime minister, perhaps to
keep away from comparisons from ex-foreign
minister L K Advani in the previous Bharatiya
Janata Party government.
The 71-year old
Mukherjee is an old-Congress hand and had been
external affairs minister under former prime
minister P V Narasimha Rao from 1995-96. He has
looked after portfolios such as finance (when
Manmohan headed the Reserve Bank of India and
technically reported to Mukherjee) and commerce.
Mukherjee was selected by Manmohan last
month to represent India at the annual UN General
Assembly jamboree in New York, while the prime
minister was busy attending the non-aligned
meeting and visits to Brazil and South Africa.
In order to push India's position in the
world order, Mukherjee will need to enjoy a good
working relationship and, at times, authority and
clout over other government ministries. This he
does now, a position enhanced by the confidence
reposed in him by Manmohan and Sonia.
Thus, the selection of Mukherjee is being
seen as lending more coherence in government
decisions, a continuation of foreign policy, which
includes cementing ties with the US and overseeing
Indo-Pakistan talks which begin again next month
after being suspended following the the Mumbai
train blasts in July. Chinese President Hu Jintao
will be in New Delhi in the third week of
November, the first visit by China's head of state
in a decade.
Trust between the foreign
minister and prime minister is very important as
historically the PM's office is known to tread on
the turf of what was once known as the Ministry of
External Affairs, and the two have not enjoyed the
most cordial relationship at most times. Prime
ministers are known to look at foreign policy
decisions closely.
However, given his
other responsibilities it is not possible for
Manmohan to oversee the entire gamut of foreign
policy exercises, beyond the US, Pakistan, China
to other multilateral commitments.
Mukherjee is a strong proponent of India's
"Look East" policy, wherein again economic
relations play a very important role. He has
pushed for the integration of India's backward
northeastern region with Southeast Asia, via road
and rail links, that can lead to a commercial
transformation of the region.
He has a
very good knowledge about India's immediate
neighbors in the sub-continent, including Sri
Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In this context, Mukherjee is seen as a
proponent of improved ties with China and is
likely to have a greater say in matters related to
foreign investment and security. The Home Ministry
has been pushing for strict security norms for
Chinese firms investing in India, a move opposed
by business interests on both sides. Crucial
coalition partners, the left parties who want
Sino-Indian ties to improve, are said to have
given the nod to Mukherjee because of this.
In his first statement as foreign
minister, Mukherjee said that India would exchange
information with Pakistan under the joint
mechanism to fight terror and await its response.
On the India-US nuclear accord, he said that
Washington had assured India that it would do its
best to see that the deal went through.
According to foreign policy analyst C Raja
Mohan: "The Manmohan-Singh government has indeed
run with the ball. But half way down its term, the
attempt to radically restructure relations with
Washington, Islamabad and Beijing has begun to
stall. The onus is now on Mukherjee to re-inject
some life into the diplomatic effort towards these
three nations, while at the same time preparing
the nation for a possible failure on one or all
fronts." Significantly, in internal Congress
turf battles aimed at entering Sonia's good books,
Mukherjee is seen aligned with the Manmohan camp,
having graciously accepted his role as the second
most powerful minister in the government.
Others in the pro-US, economic reforms and
liberalization group include Commerce Minister
Kamal Nath, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and
Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.
While these policies enjoy the massive
support of India's middle classes, Sonia has been
the tempering factor in reminding her ministers
about the disadvantaged that make up more than
half of the Indian population. She has pushed for
proper compensation to farmers displaced by the
setting up of special economic zones for industry
to thrive.
Deep in their hearts, senior
ministers such as Arjun Singh and earlier Natwar
Singh, are seen to have never accepted the
authority of Manmohan and were looked on as loose
cannons. While Arjun is trying hard to emerge as a
leader of backward castes, Natwar often betrayed
his Cold War colors and ideological baggage of the
past when pushed, by speaking against Washington.
New Defense Minister Antony has a tough
task in hand as he is relatively unknown in
federal government circles. However, he comes in
with an enormous reputation as a man of integrity,
which should hold him in good stead in a ministry
mired in scandals than range from allegations in
the Bofors gun deal in the 1980s to the latest
Barak missiles. The Defense Ministry is often used
as a political tool to implement petty vendettas
and requires a person of an impeccable stature to
fend off the criticisms.
Other issues
include the need for a joint chief of defense
staff to inculcate a sense of cohesion and
"jointness'' in operations of the three services,
which are often seen as squabbling with each
other. Antony will have to oversee the massive
acquisition and modernization of the Indian armed
forces, including the purchase of 125 multirole
fighter jet, at a cost of more than US$7 billion.
Antony has his task cut out within the
given structure of his new ministry, but clearly,
the big decision has been Mukherjee. It looks to
be a good one.
Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based
journalist.
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