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Introduction
“Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems. That, if it is you, it’s yours, if it is me it is ours. I see reflections of that,” retorted Subramiam Jaishankar to a query on India’s Russian oil consumption. The video of this interaction was widely shared on Indian social media platforms and across news channels. A retired career diplomat with a PhD from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, S Jaishankar commands a large fan following in the country who idolizes and perceives him as an apt spokesperson to defend the most populous country.
Global Upheaval
In his new work, Why Bharat Matters (Rupa &Co), Jaishankar retains his academic rigour on the present state of international affairs with sublime intellectual diligence reminiscent of the previous work. The international political economy has changed dramatically since The India
Way(2020) as seminal events like COVID-19 pandemic, Russia Ukraine crisis, the Middle East crisis, and the introduction of an LLM model of Chat GPT shook the world. Jaishankar’s predecessor work was hailed for its nuanced, analytical understanding of international affairs, and power politics.It was also prescriptive on how the Indian establishment would deal with issues that include the impending decline of US-led world order, an assertive China with its manufacturing and end-to-end supply chain dominance,the Trump presidency and the resultant trade war, extreme climate events, to name a few. The work was prescient in its predictions about an intensification of multipolarity with the new player (read China) challenging the hegemony of the US through institutions that ought to have been serving the dominant player since its creation. “US, whose dominance is clearly not what it was in the past. That it has changed is indisputable; what it leads to will be still very much a matter of debate”, he notes. The successor work is an elaboration of the single line that was present in both works; “This is a time for us to engage America, manage China, cultivate Europe, reassure Russia, bring Japan into play, draw neighbours in, extend the neighbourhood and expand traditional constituencies of support.”
The Dichotomy
In a careful reading of the new work, one could deduce tension in Jaishankar’s exposition between his present role as a spokesperson of a party with strong ideological roots and as a career bureaucrat who served in bureaucracy for successive governments for over four
decades. This dichotomy is explicit in the title of the book itself. While the predecessor had ‘India’ in its title, the successor has religious undertones. Prominently, while the old work used parables from the Indian epic Mahabharata, the new one takes inspiration from The Ramayan. It is not a sheer coincidence since the Modi government had grand celebrations for the titular Ram in January. Justifying his position, he elaborates, “Whether drawing strength from its heritage and culture or approaching challenges with the optimism of democracy and technology, this is certainly a New India, indeed an India that is able to define its own interests, articulate its own positions, find its own solutions and advance its own model. In short, this is an India that is more Bharat.”
The Spectre of Red Dragon
As aforementioned, the dichotomy of politician/bureaucrat in Jaishankar’s writings becomes more prominent when he puts forward his views on dealing with the Chinese challenge. The Minister employs revisionist views on India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s actions and the events leading up to the 1962 defeat with China. Jaishankar censures the ‘idealism’ of Nehru for this embarrassing defeat and for ignoring the signs of Chinese belligerence. The towering presence of Nehru, Jaishankar notes, had subsumed other contrary viewpoints from BR Ambedkar, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Sadar Patel. For ideological complacency, the hard realities of ‘realpolitik’ were neglected, he rues.
But the bureaucrat in him comes to the fore when he talks about the events post-Galwan clash. The Glawan Clash of July 2020 was a watershed moment in the relationship between the neighbouring nations. Subsequently, troop strength on both sides increased to 50000 on both sides, thereby facilitating the construction of border infrastructure and more scrutiny of Chinese technological and manufacturing projects.
Rupturing the tranquillity along the border in nearly 45 years, the repercussions of the clash are still uncertain. As he notes, “the relationship will be particularly concerned where our ties are heading. It is hard to offer a definitive answer at this point in time.”
The larger irony is that while he criticized the unfettered idealism of Nehru, the Minister in his realist calculus is also unsure of the immediate fallout. “It is untenable to suggest that there can be a return to ‘business as usual’ for the larger relationship when the situation in the border areas is far from normal.”
Strategic Autonomy
Using a parable from the Ramayana, Jaishankar contends that these challenges like geopolitical uncertainties give the country many opportunities to prove its resilience. The formation of the Quad grouping due to the increasing prominence of the Indo-Pacific, Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, and defence deals with both Russia and the US are
touted by the Minister as exemplifying the Indian establishment’s cherished objective: strategic autonomy. “In line with this thinking is a growing realization that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) choices should not be divorced from strategic directions.Precisely because much that India has to build lies ahead of it, we have greater stakes in ensuring the requisite partnerships and accessing the necessary resources.”
Though the External Affairs Minister is exulting the results of globalization and foreign collaboration in fields like IT, auto and pharma, he is quite aware of its effect on micro, medium and small enterprises. To prevent this, he justifies India’s exit from RCEP talks which many perceive as a move that promotes protectionism. The Minister writes about the global rebalancing and supply chain de-risking from China with India, Vietnam and Mexico being beneficiaries. But this is a far cry dream as India and the larger world are still dependent on Chinese products.
A measured triumphalism
While the minister lists the achievements in his first tenure like the successful conduct of G20, inclusion of the African Union therein and signing of a joint declaration,the I2U2(Following the Abraham Accords), the IMEC, Vaccine Maitri, Net Zero targeting, climate resilience initiatives like International Solar Alliance, Lifestyle for Environment(LiFE), yet the bureaucrat in him is cautious of triumphalism. The country is beset with huge development and infrastructural challenges that include providing employment opportunities to millions of graduates every year, the workforce’s excessive reliance on agriculture and limited shift to manufacturing, and youngsters with limited skill sets.
He is dissatisfied with developments like the weaponisation of financial, trade and infrastructure against countries since the Ukraine conflict. “The scale of financial measures, technology controls, service restrictions and seizure of assets has been truly breathtaking.” Calling these developments as heralding ‘a back to future’ era, the Minister warns against the process of de-globalisation and instead bats for a just system with all stakeholders having a say in the dialogue.
Conclusion
The work is a must-read for anyone to understand the minds of the people working on Raisina Hills. The exposition is also a fine balance between theorization and practicality. Not just an abstraction of international relations but more grounded, realist yet standard. Needless to say, the book is a critical, scholarly work on Indian foreign policy and international relations that will leave a mark for its intellectual and moral clarity.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint