Why PM Modi was unhappy with Sujatha Singh
NEW DELHI: Over the past six months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have been repeatedly unhappy with the MEA and particularly with former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh's leadership, which failed to keep pace with his bigger interests.
Where Sujatha Singh and the PMO diverged was her inability — or unwillingness — to make the necessary course corrections.
Early problems cropped up between the Singh-led MEA and the PMO when the BRICS summit declaration put in a paragraph critical of Israel, a country Modi has declared as a priority partner.
This was followed by India voting against Israel at the UNHRC — which was along the lines of the MEA's traditional stance, but very different from the stand of the new government. In fact, an abstention was not even considered, which the PMO objected to. It was, therefore, no surprise that Modi chose to meet Benjamin Netanyahu in New York.
With Japan, too, the view in the PMO was that Singh failed to run with the outcomes of Modi's visit there in September. As a result, things are said to have slowed down in a relationship into which Modi has deeply invested.
On Denmark, the PM is said to have suffered a personal slight. The Gujarat government had invited the Danish PM to Vibrant Gujarat. But the visit failed to materialize because the MEA refused to budge from its stand that no high-level contact was allowed unless they resolved the issue of Kim Davy, despite the fact that Modi had a personal interest in the Danes. The Danish PM did not come, and serious wrinkles have appeared in that bilateral relationship.
Singh and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj built a working relationship, but since neither of them had any meaningful relationship with the PMO, the MEA began to be bypassed in major decisions on foreign policy. It wasn't long before the foreign minister-foreign secretary relationship also began to turn tepid.
Swaraj tweeted on Thursday that it was the government's decision appoint Jaishankar, who had to be brought in before he retired on January 31. "Then I spoke to Ms Sujatha Singh personally," she tweeted, indicating that she was very much a party to the replacement decision.
Modi's keenness in India's relationship with the US brought ambassador Jaishankar in Washington into a key role of taking bilateral ties forward. By the time Modi invited Obama for R-Day, Singh had been told she would be replaced. Jaishankar is rated very well both by the Modi government and in MEA, and was also able to grasp the core of Modi's foreign policy. Sources said Singh was offered a UPSC post for an honourable exit, but she declined the offer.
According to a Times of India report, the Prime Minister had wanted her removed from the post and it was only the intervention of Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that had stalled the action so far. The impasse had also meant that the government had refused to clear any ambassadorial appointments for the last six months and is now expected to follow up with a slew of appointments.
Officials also reportedly said that Modi had kept Singh out of crucial decision making like the cancellation of Foreign Secretary talks with Pakistan and the Obama visit to India.
Jaishankar was reportedly a front runner to be the foreign secretary when the Manmohan Singh government was in power but Singh was reportedly picked over him because of her seniority. However, other reports suggest that her appointment was also influenced by the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have been overruled by his party on the decision to appoint Jaishankar as the foreign secretary. The UPA government's decision at the time may have been influenced by the fact that Singh's father was former IB chief and ex-UP governor TV Rajeshwar, who is seen as a Congress loyalist.
Former PM Manmohan Singh was reportedly keen on appointing Jaishankar as the foreign secretary for his work done during the Indo-US civil nuclear deal while he was joint secretary in charge of the Americas between 2004 and 2007. The diplomat, who is the son of defence strategist K Subrahmanyam, also happens to be the longest serving ambassador to China.
Jaishankar was India's ambassador to the US at the time therelationship between India and US soured over the arrest of Khobragade, but has since been credited with turning things around. After the success of Modi's trip to the US, Jaishankar was credited with getting Obama to attend Republic Day celebrations.
A 1977-batch IFS officer, Jaishankar had only days to go for his retirement. He took charge as the foreign secretary on Thursday morning. While Jaishankar refused to take any questions on his appointment this morning, he did say he was 'honoured' to be entrusted with the responsibility. "Government's responsibilities are my responsibilities," he added.
Modi government had reportedly waited for the US president's trip to end before making the announcement. It will now be hoping that Jaishankar can re-create the success of the last few months many times over in his two-year tenure.
