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."
(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at [email protected])
