Reading “Not An Accidental Rise” by
Dr. Dipmala Roka, chronicling the career of Harsh Vardhan Shringla, evokes in
me a wish and a regret. I am articulating the wish early on and will keep the
regret for the end. The wish is that that “Not An Accidental Rise’, were an
autobiography and not a biography. Mr. Shringla has occupied a ringside view of
Indian diplomacy for more than three and half decades and has much to tell
all of us – curious as we are to know what happens in the diplomatic corridors
of power and inside negotiation rooms. The hope remains that as his workload
lightens after demitting charge as Chief Coordinator of the the G-20 Summit, in the coming years, he will have the time and compelling reasons to pen his autobiography
or books on diplomacy, just as many of his illustrious predecessors have done. In having
a good harvest of books from its fold, the IFS have been very fortunate and we
are optimistic that Mr. Shringla will continue the tradition.
‘Not An Accidental Rise’, captures vividly and in
detail, the astounding career of one of India’s leading diplomats, who has
witnessed and participated in India’s transformation, in the India story vis-à-vis its external relations like
very few have. Every Indian diplomat will aspire to follow in his footsteps or
be in his shoes, so remarkable has been his career, whether it were his foreign
postings or the desks he worked on at headquarters.
Being a career diplomat myself, helped me relate to the narrative captured by Dr. Roka in a special way. Knowing the protagonist personally further provided me a vantage point. I have attempted an analysis of the principal character in the book from the perspective of commonalities and dissimilarities with my own trajectory.
I will
start with the dissimilarities first. School and college education was from
India’s best institutions and the family had a clear idea that the son should
join the IFS. Then a career in the Foreign Service with enviable responsibilities
including Ambassadorial posts in Thailand, Bangladesh and the United States and
culminating with the top job of being India’s Foreign Secretary for more than two
years, without the need for an extension in service to guarantee a two year
tenure. Occupying such critical positions in the MEA, one after the other, allowed
Mr. Shringla to chisel outcomes and influence courses, which is seldom obtained by or possible for many others. In this, the book holds tremendous
inspiration for young and mid-career diplomats, who have, at least to some
extent, the power to shape their careers and the country’s diplomacy.
While the author refers in detail to the
professional achievements of Mr. Shringla, the subtext and the
recurrent theme is that of Mr. Shringla being an extremely humane, kind,
friendly, affectionate and a team oriented officer. A friend describes him as a “Shahenshah of Friends’. Anyone who has worked or dealt with him has come
away being impressed by him being so personable and caring to a fault. Added to this is his
willingness and ability to meet almost anybody, irrespective of the social or professional status of the person. As long as the person and his message is genuine, Mr. Shringla is willing to indulge the person. While I was Consul General (CG)
in New York, his staff officer would ask me whether Ambassador should meet a
particular person or not. Oftentimes, in a bid to reduce Ambassador’s burden, I
would say that there was no need as the CG is in touch with the person. To this
the response from Ambassador always was -- if the CG can meet him, so can the
Ambassador. Till today, a stream of visitors comes to Delhi from all the
stations he has served in and meets with him. I know this for sure, as
some of those who come from Bangladesh and New York also end up meeting me. These
are qualities, with which most of us start our careers with, but they soon disappear
in the sands of time and get replaced with arrogance and hubris. Refreshingly,
Mr. Shringla has retained these qualities, as the book clearly brings out.
So many years later, I still carry memories of my first interaction with Mr. Shringla. It was on a trip to Mozambique, in 2009 along with Minister of State, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, to attend the swearing in ceremony of the new President. As Maputo did not have an Ambassador in place at that time, Ministry had asked Mr. Shringla to help with the visit. He was then between postings, from being CG in Durban to taking over charge as Joint Secretary (JS) in MEA. I had never met him before yet both of us worked closely for the success of the visit, as if we knew each other from before. A difficult visit, due to lack of local support, was pulled off with aplomb. I was taken in by his friendliness and team spirit.
Several years later, when he was JS
responsible for Bangladesh, I had routine interaction with him as Deputy High
Commissioner, Dhaka. Always accessible, his problem solving attitude made him
very popular at the High Commission, High Commissioner and all IFS officers included.
He went to great lengths to be always available and responsive to the needs of
the Mission. Several path breaking initiatives were taken and concluded which
transformed an essentially political relationship with our neighbour to an
economic relationship, building on dependencies and connectivity.
During these interactions, another
aspect of his came to my notice. That is his signature. I haven’t come across a
sign like his, and I have always wondered, how he executed it to perfection,
time after time. Perhaps it defines his personality, rounded yet in possession of many
layers.
After working on the Bangladesh relationship,
our paths crossed again, as Mr. Shringla took over Ambassador to Washington
when I was CG, New York. India’s most important
bilateral relationship and Mission with 5 Consulates General and a gigantic
footprint in several domains benefited from his leadership. As the book
correctly documents, Mr. Shringla hit the ground running. Soon after arrival,
the Farmington University scandal - where students had been entrapped into
enrolling in a non-existent university and then arrested for fraud tested his
mettle. Ambassador Shringla took on the challenge on a war footing with a clear
direction to the Team that the students were not at fault, they were the
victims, and we had to do all that was possible to reach out to them, many in
jails, and get them bail or sent to India. The power of video conferencing (VC) was
then revealed to us. Almost every day we would have a VC and were
required to give updates on the fate of the students -- how many had been met and
for how many had we been able to arrange lawyers. This was accompanied by
strong public diplomacy conveying that the Mission was at work and the students
were being cared. The potentially damaging episode was deftly managed by the
Ambassador leading from the front.
I distinctly remember, that given the
demands and frequency of VC,
we all switched to acquiring modern devices, which stood us in good stead,
later in the year for ‘Howdy Modi’ and then when scourge of Covid hit the US badly.
The Farmington University case and
then ‘Howdy Modi’ revealed the inclusive approach of Mr. Shringla, well alluded
to in the book. While organising ‘Howdy Modi’ at Houston, we quickly fathomed that it had to be a
nation-wide effort involving close coordination with community organizations.
When it was learnt that President Trump was to also join the event, our task requirements
changed from getting maximum community participation to also obtain attendance by US
dignitaries. The event was a mega logistical and security challenge, which was pulled
off primarily due to meticulous planning and attention given to detail by Mr.
Shringla, proven by the participation of a large number of US dignitaries
travelling long distances to be part of history.
Being located
at an outpost i.e. New York and not at the Embassy in Washington, I was not
privy to the many other elements of Mr. Shringla’s Ambassadorship, but from his
occasional trips to my jurisdiction, I became acutely aware that his trips
had to well planned with every available minute packed with interactions and
meetings with a cross-section of opinion, from the Diaspora to the Media to Senators
and Congressmen, and the New York region had many. Such extensive outreach came
useful later in the year in 2019 when the task of building public and
congressional opinion in favour of abrogation of Article 370 and the
Citizenship Amendment Act became an important task for India’s diplomatic representation
in the US and was achieved with success.
The Author refers to particular incidents
of preventing anti-Indian elements from laying siege to our Embassy and
Consulates. As part of Team India in the US, I can vividly recall the
instructions from Ambassador. He was very clear that we could not cede ground
to the secessionists and here again our approach, coordinated across the entire
geography, did achieve the desired results.
Audacity grips me while I bring to light some convergences and commonalities. I too, got
double promotion in school ( but did not have such an exemplary academic record), took coaching at Rau’s Study Circle and like Mr.
Shringla worked on our relations with Bangladesh and the US. However, unlike
him, my becoming a diplomat was entirely due to accidents of circumstances, and
perhaps my career progression continues to be so. While I was ending my tenure in New York, he asked
me to come back to headquarters to take over as JS in charge of the t Europe West (EW) Division, where many years ago he had also worked. I found in him deep
understanding of the demands of the EW Division and he stood like a rock behind
me, supporting the work of the Division.
The Author documents well the
inspiring career of Mr. Shringla and charts every phase of his education and professional
life, starting from attending Mayo School to being Foreign Secretary of India. The
book would have been a better read with the weaving in of personal anecdotes and
glimpses and tales from Mr. Shringla’s interactions and tete-a-tete with foreign interlocutors.
Tighter editing will make the story more crisp and gripping. Here I mention my
regret. The author had approached me for an interview which sadly couldn’t
materialize due to conflict of schedules.
There is a lot more in the life and
times of Harsh Vardhan Shringla. This
book is just an hors d’oeuvre; the main course and the dessert along with the accompanying
rich bodied French burgundy is yet to be served. As the well know advert
proclaimed – “Yeh Dil Maange More”.
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