Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on performance and out of the box thinking is behind a string of new appointments of Indian Envoys in the next few months. The appointments also have a strong imprint of the Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar who has managed to build a strong team of doers in key diplomatic positions.
India’s new envoy to the US Navtej Sarna who is currently the High Commissioner to UK is understood to have been picked from a panel of three names that was sent for the US to the Prime Minister. Sarna will replace Arun Singh who retires at the end of August.
Sarna was senior most of the names that were proposed by the MEA, a 1980 batch officer of the Foreign Service what weighed in his favor was an impeccable record as a diplomat and a previous stint successful stint in the US. Sarna who was sent to the US after the Indian nuclear tests in 1999 was able to counter the anti-India sentiment in the US media well. He also handled the key visits of the Prime Minister AB Vajpayee to the US. During his brief stint in the UK, Sarna was able to engage the Indian community effectively and he will be an asset when he moves to Washington.
The other names on the panel included India’s envoy to Moscow Pankaj Saran and India’s high commissioner to Australia Navdeep Suri both junior to Sarna. Interestingly amongst efforts to lobby for an extension for the present Envoy Arun Singh, what worked decisively for Sarna was also his great working relationship with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar who needed an able ally in Washington.
Replacing Sarna will be another bright officer India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, who did an excellent job handling the neighbourhood especially as the head of Pakistan desk and he will be instrumental in keeping a check on the activities of Anti India groups fomented by Pakistan who operate out of the U.K, and will be able to sensitise the British government well. Sarna’s stint as Indian ambassador to Israel will also be important to engage the powerful Jewish community in the US
Another key pick is Taranjit Sandhu, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington. Sandhu is also a Jaishankar confidante and played a key role in the landmark visit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Jaishankar in 2014. Sandhu is also an old Sri Lanka hand and will help in engaging Sri Lanka and some out of the box idea he had a successful stint in Sri Lanka during the troubled times in the island nation. In the US he left his mark when he successfully mobilising the US lawmakers with his great connect in the Capital hill, during the last visit of the Prime Minister to Washington this year.
Also being changed are the two new Deputies in Washington and London. Santosh Jha, who is an old US hand and was the eyes and ears of Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in MEA and handled the crucial policy planning division. While Dinesh Patnaik, with great people connect will be in London as the new Deputy High Commissioner. The deputy envoys in these two important stations also have a rank of Ambassador and are considered important diplomatic slots. However the bigger message in these postings is that while performance is key, it is also the advice of the Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar that matters which the Prime Minister values and is apparent from these postings.