Rajnath Singh and a quiet kind of crisis management
The personality of Rajnath Singh, stolid, calm and dependably old-world in his adherence to copybook, is not one that will threaten to dominate the headlines. But those qualities are often the best suited to execute a quiet kind of crisis management. Witness his passage during and, crucially, after the Moscow summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation—and the viable language in which things were articulated. Meetings with the defence ministers of the Central Asian republics, to begin with.
Using the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan to bring India back into the frame on that front, at least nominally, where America’s flip flop had left it abandoned on the sidewalk. Mutually acceptable words on anti-terror cooperation. Warm hugs with Russia, including on the Sputnik V vaccine, which could see India trials. The main course was the meeting with Wei Fenghei, China’s defence minister and a general in the PLA. Yes, some tough words issued forth. China will not give up “one inch,” Wei said, but Singh managed to hold ground without being provocative.
Of course, it is too much to expect an individual to have a dramatic effect on a scenario defined by deeper, systemic antagonisms and strategic considerations. But two ministers meeting face-to-face is better than what was happening on the icy Himalayan heights alongside—troops face-to-face, with knuckles tense on the trigger. The dessert came during Singh’s return: he stopped by Tehran en route, and met up with Iran’s defence minister Amir Hatami! Russia, China, Iran … that sounds like a different kind of Quad from what the US (and its countless intercessors in the Indian strategic community) have been boxing India into. The twists and turns of foreign policy may unfold over a somewhat more glacial pace than those of a page-turning mystery novel, but are no less fascinating for that. And its subtle inflections can be more determinative of our lives than we imagine.