Lessons in diplomacy in India can be traced to as far back as The Bhagavat Gita , where Krishna tells Arjuna about quality of one’s speech. He says: “Speech should be precise, truthful and, pleasing to the ears”.
Last week, I was panelist at the India Day conference, in Cologne, attended by over 200 German investors and businessmen keenly engaged in India.
A former senior German diplomat who had spent several years in India delivered the keynote address, giving his outlook on India and issues facing German investors, such as corruption, bureaucratic hurdles, and the virtual policy paralysis.
During his address, the former German diplomat also expressed contempt for the “babus” of Indian bureaucracy.
MEANINGLESS TALK
An Indian diplomat sitting in the audience seemed perceptibly upset, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. And, in the middle of a serious panel discussion, he walked on stage, grabbed the microphone and said, “Bureaucrats in Brussels are no different…” and “…corruption is not endemic only in India”.
Using rhetoric, the Indian diplomat tried hard to deny defend what was well known. It was in inelegant ramble, sans logic. And, the participants were left with insincere grins and toothy smiles.
In the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), it is said: “Vachnah Sapenaapi Vastunah Anyathaa Karthum Asakyathwath” (“A thousand texts cannot alter the truth”).
But we Indians seem to live in a society where winning an argument is all that counts. Whether this is right is another matter — most Indian diplomats do not seem to care about that.
An intrinsic contradiction of Indian diplomacy is that it tends to attract the brightest people, who then volunteer to become dogmatic and uninspiring.
PONDEROUS TRIBE
All told, joining the Indian diplomatic corps is like being ordained as a clergy: sermonising values that are widely shared but, systematically crushed; defending positions that are tactically compelling but, rarely in tune with ordinary lives.
The key difference is that the holy clergy serves the heavenly; the diplomat serves the blasphemous.
There are roughly 200 countries in the world and India has diplomatic missions in most of them. I wonder what our Indian diplomats do all day in the 90 per cent of the countries?
In today’s world, political intelligence is gathered by intelligence agencies and ‘think tanks’, and advice for business people, tourists, and everybody else can be found on the internet or through social networking. Much of the development aid money is often not channelled through specialised agencies and institutions.
Are the ambassador and the embassy obsolete? By no means — but both will have to redefine themselves and prove their worth.
India needs diplomats who can feel the pulse of foreign investors and understand their points of view.
Are taxpayers getting value for money from the millions of dollars we spend, annually on our overseas missions, embassies and consulates?
(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in )