Bangkok: As a black sedan rolled into the entry of Hotel Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok’s Indian community, gathered in the lobby, burst into chants of “Modi! Modi! Modi!”—before stopping immediately after its passenger stepped out of the car.
For all his social media stardom, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was not the man of the moment. He could not help but chuckle as he walked through the lobby, waving at the silent crowd.
It’s in moments like this that a reporter realises the hold Prime Minister Narendra Modi has over the Indian community when he travels. A sea of at least a hundred people of multiple Indian faiths, dressed in their traditional best, waited for his arrival in the lobby in a semi-circle. The tightly choreographed welcome, shared on the prime minister’s social media handles, showcased an audience enthralled by his visit.
For once, the social media reels were not off the mark. The crowd seemed genuine in their happiness to receive Modi. The song and dance, and the prayers that followed, showcased the protocol powers of the Indian diplomatic corps.
When I first landed in Bangkok, I pointed out how the city seemed immune to the song and dance, but here in this small slice of the river, there were loud chants, tears and selfie opportunities for the visit of an international leader.
As I spoke to some of the attendees after Modi moved to the first floor to watch a performance of the Ramakien—Thailand’s version of the Ramayana—there seemed to be real happiness for an Indian leader to visit Thailand. For many of those present, their home was Thailand. There were third, fourth or even fifth generation Thais of Indian origin.
They did not hold Indian citizenship. In fact, one of the people present told me that his family first migrated to Thailand in the 1880s from today’s Punjab, and has remained there since. Their families have witnessed the birth of India-Thai ties, and to them, it finally seemed like their home and the place where they come from were going to acknowledge a closer relationship.
For me, as a reporter covering foreign policy, it seemed a little difficult to understand the conviction the Indian community holds in the belief that Modi could change for the better—in a drastic way—the ties between New Delhi and Bangkok.
Listening to the officials around, there seemed to be hope that the visit would signal a political change in the relations, even if any changes would take years and even decades to come to fruition due to the real lack of frameworks for such a partnership, outside of the cultural links.
Nevertheless, as the Modi storm passed through the hotel, the rest of the city moved on as it always did. Right outside the hotel, a school had let out for the day, and the students and their families continued as they always did—perhaps a bit irritated by the road diversions due to Modi’s presence merely 50 metres down the road.
The walk in Bangkok’s mid-day sun and its humidity made for quite the challenge, even if the site of the summit—the Hotel Shangri-La—was about 400 metres away. As I did make the trek, I felt water fall from above and looked up in the hope that there would be rain, only to realise that the stores in the narrow streets of Bang Rak, had the exhaust pipes from their air conditioners open to the roads, spitting droplets of water on passersby and creating pools of water on the sidewalks.
City that never remains still
With multiple international visitors of importance frequently arriving in New Delhi, there are moments in the day, when certain parts of the Indian capital where the government is based are still. Even the parking outside ThePrint’s office is often made temporarily inaccessible, as a foreign dignitary makes their way to Rajghat.
During the G20 summit in 2023, the roads around Pragati Maidan were locked down. Scores of police officers and barriers were created for the 48 hours that the leaders were in New Delhi.
In Bangkok, none of that occurred. The police, however, did stop the traffic as the leaders’ convoys passed, though I would say it was more due to the narrowness of the streets than official policy. After all, being stuck in traffic, while an acceptable excuse for office, may not be a good one at an international summit.
As I reached the Shangri-La, I received confirmation of what I believed would be a “breaking story”, besides calls from people back home to confirm the same—Modi was set to meet Yunus the next day.
Sometimes, the show Yes Minister plays out quite well in real life. Sir Humphrey Appleby, the fictional civil servant in the show, once said, “The first rule of politics: never believe anything until it’s been officially denied.”
My leads were not denied, and the story went out. It made my day, even if it was barely 2 pm in Bangkok, and I still had the actual summit to cover. Nevertheless, all eyes were on the bilateral meeting.
The BIMSTEC Summit for me had a couple of starkly more interesting facets—a summit of leaders, who have potentially never met, in the same room, given that most of them came to power in the last year.
For example, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand came to power in August 2024. K.P. Oli returned to power in Kathmandu last July—even if it is his third term). The prime minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay started his term last January. The prime minister of Sri Lanka Harini Amarasuriya was appointed in September 2024. Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh’s interim government took office in August 2024. This left only Modi and junta chief of Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, as those in office since before 2024.
Nevertheless, all eyes were on Friday’s Modi-Yunus meeting, and it became my job to sniff out the outcomes of that meeting. Calls, messages and meetings with those present began, and there was some sense of what was going to happen, but the job of a reporter remains to find out the kernels of truth through the various obfuscations one hears.
As the bilateral meet rolled by the following day, the real outcomes of the BIMSTEC summit were overshadowed. The two leaders had finally met! After months of fraught ties, back and forth and a steely silence from the Indian prime minister, it seemed the moment had finally arrived—New Delhi and Dhaka finally personally talked.
I was told it would be a short meeting. Yunus made Modi wait to enter the room as visuals showed, and the conversation seemingly carried on for 45 minutes. Bangladesh raised its issues, India raised its own. They shook hands and left. Has much changed yet?
One official told me to not read too much into the meeting, another said it would allow some form of normalisation, while a third one had a completely different view of things. Nevertheless, in diplomacy, it was the fact that the talks happened, which was the story.
Less than a couple of hours after the summit concluded, the media centres at the summit site were being cleared out. It seemed there was a rush in Bangkok to get on with the day, which I imagine to an extent symbolises the state of BIMSTEC currently—meetings done, time to move on.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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