For those of you who read my last blogpost ( The Indian Political League) and made observations about my political affiliations, well then this is for them. I am not apolitical, and for those aware of my political orientations, I am critical for everything that I feel is not right, no matter whosoever has done that wrong.
I was deeply disappointed with the Cabinet that was sworn in last week. I understand that distributing portfolios is always a difficult task, where the size of one’s pie depends upon one’s proximity to 10 Janpath. Thats understandable, for the Congress party has been known for its sycophant leaders. But sometimes good political wisdom should prevail, as the people gave the Congress the thumping mandate this time, in order to deliver upon the promises it made. Squandering that mandate can be costly for the Congress in the long run.
I have always felt that foreign policy in India has never really enjoyed the kind of attention and importance it deserves. Elections have never really been contested on issues of foreign policy (for me India-US nuclear deal was not the only issue that Indian Foreign Policy should be singularly concerned about). India’s image in the comity of nations has changed beyond proportion. But I am appalled at seeing the inherent apathy in our political establishment to have a media suavy, articulate and learned man having a strong foundation in International Affairs, occupy the post of the Minister of External Affairs. And we lost a chance this time again to rope in the best man available for this job- Dr.Shashi Tharoor. Glance through his biodata and see why I am puttng forth my case. We cannot contemplate of becoming a ‘power to reckon with’ in contemporary parlance, if we donot have the right men at the right places. Gratifying the old horses within the Congress party for their lifelong service (or should I call it sycophancy) doesnot mean that an important portfolio like the MEA should be compromised with. I am sorry, but for any young Indian who wants to see India shine through out the world Mr. S.M.Krishna is a hopeless selection ( I am not apologetic for using this term and for the lack of an even crude word I restricted myself to this term ). He might be a Harvard graduate,so what ? For his maiden speech to the media, Mr.Krishna had to take the help of piece of paper to read out his speech of acceptance as the MEA ! How long will we be cowed down to those conventional notions of age and experience? If Barrack Obama can be the president of a country like US at an age of 47, why do we need a Foreign Minister of 72 years?? If this election was said to be Congress’ agenda for inducting fresh and young blood into politics, then where did that pious agenda vanish after elections ? So should we infer that ‘young blood’ means the induction of the kids of the Congress leaders or for that matter sons and daughters of the leaders of Congress’ allies into the Council of Ministers’ list ? Is it about a Rahul Gandhi (although he declined a Cabinet berth), a Jyotiraditya Scindhia, a Sachin Pilot, a Milind Deora, a Jitin Prasada,? All sons of the Congress leaders?? Or should I rather say Youth Brigade means the sons and daughters of political leaders irrespective of the political spectrum ! Go through the list of the young MPs and find out for yourself that majority of them are either the son or the daughter of a political heavyweight. Of the 79 Ministers who were sworn in this time, 12 were the scions of a political family ! That is disappointing for any young Indian like me.I think this phenomenon was aptly summed up by Rajdeep Sardesai as ‘SON STROKE’ ! That is why we have a M.K.Azaghiri (S/O Karunanidhi) become a Cabinet Minister inspite of being a first timer in the Lok Sabha, while a man of immense calibre like Jairam Ramesh get a MoS berth !
Dr.Tharoor is 53 (young by atleast the standard of the average age that most Cabinet Ministers in India are). Now how about this for his career graph – In 2007 Shashi Tharoor concluded a nearly 29 year career with the UN, including working with the Singapore Office of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) at the peak of the ‘boat people crisis’, handling peace-keeping operations in the former Yugoslavia and culminating as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. In 2006,he was India’s candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General and emerged a strong second out of 7 contenders. Dr.Tharoor earned his PhD at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the age of 22! He was named by the world Economic Forum in Davos in 1998 as a ‘Global Leader of Tomorrow.’ But that Leader of tomorrow was lost to the politics of rewarding loyalty. We need a presentable face that would be India’s face in shaping the contours of world politics ( for those of you interested in seeing the grit, wit and intellectual eloquence of Tharoor, check out his video on my Orkut profile or visit http://www.shashitharoor.com).
Since Nehru, if we haven’t had a strong and well charted out foreign policy, then its because we haven’t had a strong and articulate Foreign Minister well versed in International Studies. Nehru was a visionary who had a great understanding of world history and International Affairs. Since then we have failed in our foreign policy decision-making because of the poor selection of candidates manning that post of the Foreign Minister.
Some of my friends who know me closely and are aware of my preferences would be of the opinion that this article was but natural of me, because of my ‘obsession with the Tharoors and Swarups’. To them I would react by saying that foreign policy making requires an understanding of the history of International Politics. And Dr.Tharoor fits into that post hands down. I for one would not buy the argument that he is a political novice. To substantiate my point of view I have already presented his statistics. 29 years of service at the UN is more than enough of an experience to qualify him for the post of a Foreign Minister. Currently there are two MoS for External Affairs. There were reports that during the previous UPA govt’s regime the MoS did not even have their own offices. How much autonomy then, they would be exercising in policy-making would be anyboby’s guess!
Mr.Prime Minister, you raised a hope of a new India, in the minds of young people like me, Riding on those ‘waves of hope’, we expected you to break the traditions in giving the men of honor and intellect and young leaders a place in your new team - leaders who will shape the trajectory that India would be following in the next few years and emerge as a ‘potential super power’. But we are disappointed. At the same time we know that your hands are tied.