SECOND OPINION Foreign to Policy After the Devyani fiasco, we should disband the MEA and our missions abroad Jug Suraiya
Does India have a foreign policy? Or is any kind of policy foreign to it when it comes to dealing with the international community? In the wake of the Devyani Khobragade fiasco, these questions might well be raised yet again. What might literally be called a domestic tiff – the domestic being the Indian diplomat’s maid, Sangeeta Richards – overnight turned into a full-blown, noholds-barred row between Washington and New Delhi, who till the other day had been slapping each other on the back and exchanging mutual congratulations on their blossoming romance which began with the signing of the historic nuclear deal under the aegis of UPA-I and the Bush administration. How did smiles overnight turn into snarls? The humiliating treatment meted out to the diplomat was certainly offensive. But surely the matter could have been dealt without turning it into a barroom brawl with no punches pulled? A minor – though offensive – incident was allowed by both sides to be blown up out of all proportions. The US is only too well known for its reputation as the big bully on the global scene. Equally, India is equally well known for its tendency alternatively to shake hands with and shake fists at other countries, be it the US, Pakistan, China or its Saarc neighbours. New Delhi seems to have very little, if any, coherent long-term policy which dictates its relations and responses to other countries. The result is that India appears to react to situations in an ad hoc, kneejerk manner, rather than pursuing predetermined and clearly perceived goals. When it comes to foreign affairs, India tends to behave like an emotionally unstable teenager who switches from buddy-buddy bonhomie to temper tantrums in a trice. President Obama throws a Diwali party in the White House, or his wife wears a sari, and India feels so puffed up with national pride that it’s ready to burst. Then some Indian VIP is strip-searched, or suffers some other real or imagined indignity in the US, and effigies of Uncle Sam are burnt in public bonfires. Our yo-yo responses – up one moment, down the next – are not restricted to our relations with America. They are even more marked in the case of Pakistan, the country we most love to hate. One day we’re loudly and vehemently denouncing Pak-sponsored terrorism from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and the day after we’re in raptures about Lahore’s famous Food Street and the large-hearted hospitality that it extends to Indian visitors. In the absence of a clear-cut foreign policy, what purpose do our overseas diplomatic missions serve? Much the same purpose which that other expensive white elephant Air India serves: providing freebies to junketing netas, babus and their families. The national carrier gives them free flights, and our embassies and consulates give them free boarding and lodging. If we were to disband the ministry of external affairs and our foreign missions then we’d save enough money to wipe out the fiscal deficit. Who’d look after our foreign affairs? Who else but the most neutral and well-regarded country in the world: Switzerland. How would we pay Switzerland for this service? By telling it to take all the money that Indians have stashed in Swiss bank accounts. How else? [email protected] http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
