Needless face-off between dems and Jaishankar
The decision of India’s arguably most industrious foreign minister, S Jaishankar, not to engage with Indian-American Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who has moved a bipartisan resolution against the communication clampdown in J&K, has created a political kerfuffle. Jaishankar is an ace diplomat and a scholar who has clocked more flying miles than any other minister in his position, defending the government in foreign capitals against adverse opinion on the reorganisation of J&K, and making India’s case as an emerging global power. Yet he crossed out a House meeting from his itinerary as Jayapal was on the list of invitees.
The foreign office explained it as a meeting of the House Foreign Relations Committee, of which Jayapal was not a member, yet she sought to gatecrash it and the panel agreed to let her in without India’s consent. As for Jaishankar, he was critical of Jayapal’s J&K line and dismissed her with a cryptic: “I have no interest in meeting her.” It indicated his evolution as a neta who saw no point in giving political space to someone at the other end of the ideological spectrum. The issue snowballed as Democrat presidential hopefuls like Bernie Sanders weighed in saying she was excluded as she was outspoken, deepening the gulf between their party and the Modi government.
In the past, progressive, radical members of their party like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have attacked Modi’s Kashmir policy. For US President Donald Trump, who is limping along after his impeachment in Congress, the political chasm could help when he seeks re-election next year. If his participation at the massive Howdy Modi event at Houston and the PM recalling the “ab ki baar Trump sarkar” punchline was seen as the latter’s endorsement of a second term in the Oval Office, the polarisation of Modi bhakts could chip away Democrat votes the way it did against Labour in Britain, howsoever marginally. Whom a visiting Indian minister chooses to meet is his call, not that of the host country. By seeking to peddle their agenda, Democrats could hurt themselves in the long run.