How do the Sangh Parivar agitation against entry of women of menstruating age to the Sabarimala temple and the Narendra Modi government’s rejection of UAE’s offer of ₹700-crore aid for Kerala’s flood relief impact India’s global image and its international relations?
Quite badly, according to career diplomats T.P. Sreenivasan and Venu Rajamony.
Both the events dented India’s image abroad and lowered the global community’s trust in India’s capacity to do things properly, Mr. Sreenivasan, former senior diplomat, and Mr. Rajamony, Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands, pointed out at a seminar on ‘Diplomacy in the Age of Isolated Nationalism’ held as part of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) here on Friday.
Mr. Sreenivasan said the Centre’s preventing Kerala from accepting the UAE aid had put the UAE government in a spot so much so that its Ambassador had to publicly state that his government had not announced such an aid.
‘Aid stalled’
This controversy also stopped other likely foreign assistance for Kerala in its track. Many foreign leaders used to check with him if it would offend the Indian government if they gave any aid to Kerala’s flood victims, he recalled.
He said that at a time of battling the aftermath of the floods, the State government was focussing on fighting the Sabarimala agitation. This eroded foreign governments’ trust in Kerala (and India) in its efficacy in utilising its resources (and hence in getting aid in the future).
Babri Masjid demolition
India had a bad image abroad over women’s safety because of the frequent incidents of rape, the former diplomat said, adding the Sabarimala agitation added to this bad image.
Mr. Sreenivasan recalled that when the world was disturbed by the Babri Masjid demolition, he was instructed by the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to tell the UN community that the government would rebuild the Masjid in order to calm the tempers.
“But now [the current government] is talking about building there another structure [the Ram temple].” This tended to erode Muslim countries’ trust in India.
Agreeing with Mr. Sreenivasan’s views on India’s global image over certain issues, Mr. Rajamony noted that the social cohesion within a country was an important factor in determining a country’s image and power on the international stage. So were inclusive growth and good infrastructure.
Mr. Rajamony said India needed to fix its problems with the neighbouring countries in order to be able to be more assertive on the global stage.
Though the Modi government had started with a pro-US foreign policy, and it was now following an equidistant policy toward the US, China, and Russia.
