(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)
"Not even a king has the right to subordinate the interests of the state to his personal sympathies or antipathies," writes one of the greatest diplomats of the last century, Henry Kissinger, in his book, Diplomacy. But modern-day diplomats with no understanding of diplomacy and foreign policy are out to make themselves more important than the national interest. Alas! They are also joined by a few TV anchors who find solutions for foreign policies in two minutes. Unfortunately, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, General V K Singh, joins the gang too. The General found his visiting the Pakistan High Commission was a "disgusting" affair, an affront to his #Duty as a minister.
1. Our constitution has adopted the Westminster model of governance which works on the basic premise of collective responsibility of the cabinet. V K Singh has not attended the function in Pakistan High Commission in his individual capacity. He was there as the representative of the government of India, as a member of the cabinet. And after coming back from the function, if he finds his going there #disgusting and if he tries to project that he was not willing to go there, but had no option but to visit as a part of his duty, then he has breached the basic rule of the collective responsibility of the cabinet. His tweets are clearly proof that he has violated that golden rule and he has no business to continue as a minster. Either he should be sacked or he should resign.
3. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is incumbent upon him to work for the furtherance of the national interest vis a vis other countries. It's not necessary that he interact with friendly nations only. The biggest challenge a diplomat faces is when he has to negotiate or interact with an enemy/ unfriendly country. Pakistan, all said and done, is an enemy country, and as a diplomat, it is his responsibility to work for the betterment of the relationship between the two hostile nations. His tweets are hostile in nature and will not help build the relationship between the two nations. It shows that either he is not aware of his responsibility as a Foreign Minister, or his insecurities have taken over. Kissinger has very succinctly written - "The public does not in the long run respect leaders who mirrors its own insecurities or see only the symptoms of crisis rather than the long term trends." Mr V K Singh you forgot to see big picture.
Even if Pakistan is the cause for many headaches for India, as a nation we have no alternative but to engage it in some form or the other. The continuous hostility will only bleed India. It's in our interest not to escalate the tension on our borders. Such acts will not help in de-escalation. In this context, I am further reminded of Kissinger - "Napoleon's tragedy was that his ambitions surpassed his capacities." Fortunately or unfortunately, neither Modi is Napoleon nor is VK Singh, despite being a former general.
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