Quite An Incredible Rise

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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