Modi's
three-nation tour: Projecting a self-confident India
By Ranjana
Narayan
New Delhi, April 17 Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-nation tour
was marked by several high points - the surprise announcement on purchase of 36
Rafale fighter jets in France, clinching a five-year uranium supply deal with Canada,
pushing the Make in India initiative in Germany, assuring all of the ease of
doing business in India, not forgetting the rockstar connect with the Indian
diaspora. The tour has led to "positive achievements" and led to a
portrayal of a self-confident India, say analysts.
As Modi returns home after his long April 9-16 tour, the visit had several
other notable points. Modi paid tribute to the thousands of Indian soldiers
killed in World War I at the Neuve Chapelle memorial in France, becoming the first
Indian prime minister to do so.
He raised the pitch for India seeking a UN Security Council permanent seat,
terming it as India's "right" and listed out the reasons, during a
civic reception by the Indian community in Paris. In Berlin, Modi said at a
civic reception that India would "set the agenda" for the climate
change talks in Paris this year, as India has traditionally always followed the
principle of "reuse" and "recycle" and never believed in
wastage of resources. At the same event, Modi made a significant statement,
saying that India's secularism is based on strong foundations and it can never
be shaken.
Modi also strived to establish a personal connect with the three leaders. With
France's President Francois Hollande, the "nao pe charcha" moment
during a cruise on River Seine grabbed eyeballs. In Canada, Modi got Prime
Minister Stephen Harper to travel by Air India One from Ottawa to Toronto and
the two leaders jointly addressed the thousands of ecstatic Indians at the
Ricoh Coliseum in an event reminiscent of the Madison Square Garden event in
New York last year. Besides, Modi mingled everywhere with Indian expatriates
and also clicked selfies with them, helping strike a personal chord.
"In different ways all the three visits have produced positive results for
India; besides strengthening the idea, which Modi has done successfully, that
India is becoming more attractive as an investment destination, which is
critical for his development plans in India," former foreign secretary
Kanwal Sibal told IANS.
On Modi strongly pitching for a UNSC seat, Sibal said that this marked a
"change in tone". "Earlier India has been lobbying, now his tone
is different; I will not beg for it, I deserve it and giving reasons for that.
This is part of his general approach of a self-confident India which is now
willing to make effort to become part of the big power league."
Former envoy Sheel Kant Sharma termed the agreement on uranium as
"path-breaking", especially as Canada had put India off nuclear
cooperation following the 1974 peaceful nuclear blast. "And now they have
come full circle and are selling uranium to us, for five years. And Canada has
also agreed on the same terms which we have with US, they are also not
interested in the tracking issue, which has been raised by some other
countries. In that sense it is the completion of the process that started in
2005, of India's mainstreaming; India can get uranium from the major uranium
suppliers," Sharma, who has been India's representative at the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told IANS.
According to Sibal, "Canada is the third country from which we will get
raw uranium; and considering the history of our relations with Canada on the
non proliferation front, this is a very major strategic step forward".
Noted strategic expert C. Uday Bhaskar termed the uranium agreement significant
in relation to India's growing energy needs to boost growth and development and
the "symbolism as poignant", in the backdrop of Canada having
suspended nuclear cooperation following the 1974 nuclear test.
On the Rafale deal, Bhaskar, told IANS that it "will provide much-needed
platform infusion to the Indian Air Force's depleting fighter squadron
strength."
India clinched a deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in fly away condition in
Paris. Bhaskar, who is director, Society for Policy Studies (SPS), said
"it was a deft political decision to manage a complex exigency - both in
relation to India's composite military capability and the tangled
techno-commercial negotiations over the 126 MMRCA deal concluded by the UPA
government".
Sibal said the Rafale deal "is a step that will bolster our strategic
partnership with France".
In Germany, Modi's main thrust was economics. He held meetings with German CEOs
and jointly inaugurated the India pavilion at the Hannover Messe with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel. "He passed on the core message that India is
open for business and he will make doing business in India easier, and also
promised that he will have mechanisms put in place that will facilitate the
entry of German businessmen into India, " said Sibal.
On his connect with the diaspora, Sharma says that Modi realizes the value of
the diaspora in the way he reaches out to them, meets them and shakes hands
with them. "It helps them identify with the prime minister of India, as
one who rose up the ladder to the top, and most of the diaspora have also come
up the hard way."
