Diplomats donning the robes of Politicians

Diplomats donning the robes of Politicians

 My immediate motivation to write this came from the news that former diplomat and my colleague in the IFS fraternity, Harsh Vardhan Shringala has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India, perhaps first such nomination to include a former career diplomat among the nominated members since independence.
At the dawn of independence, PM Jawaharlal Nehru did select and appoint some politicians and Princes of the States as Ambassadors and High Commissioners and also nominated some of them to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) which came into existence on October 9, 1946. After the UPSC Examination, the first batch of IFS was selected and appointed in 1948. The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is one of the three all India services one can aspire to if one crack the UPSC Civil Services Exam.  It is a prestigious service on par with the IAS in stature. As an IFS officer, one can serve in the various diplomatic missions that India has in other countries. One can even move up the ladder to become HOM –Ambassador/High Commission of the country. Notwithstanding the assessment made of the IFS by one of

its illustrious members, Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad in his review of a book on diplomats and foreign policy of Kallol Bhattacharya where he said, “Most Indians have either never heard of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) or have only the vaguest notion of what the service does. It does not have the name-recognition enjoyed by the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or the Indian Police Service (IPS). Unlike earlier times, these days the IFS is not even the premier choice among those hundreds of thousands of candidates who annually knock at the doors of the UPSC to gain entry into India’s elite government services.”, After this reality check, I come to the theme of my blog; diplomats and Indian politics.

After the role and contribution of personalities like Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Asaf Ali, Leilamani Naidu, in diplomacy in the early years of independence, I come, off the cuff, to IFS diplomats who made to politics and delivered in the process. The first diplomat, I understand,
was Manohar Lal Sondhi, my fellow Jalandharite, who resigned from the IFS on the issue of Nehru’s China policy in the early 1960s and became a member of the Lok Sabha on Jan Sangh ticket. Many of us may not remember that Syed Shahabudin, a maverick, also entered politics and became an MP from Bihar in 1980s. K.R. Naryanan, an intellectual face of the IFS, with whom I worked in Peking (Beijing)

Vidya Chander with Usha Narayanan in Peking

as a junior diplomat joined politics in the days of PM Indira Gandhi and got elected to Lok Sabha from Kerala, his home state. He became a Minister and later held the coveted positions of Vice President and President of India. Kunwar Natwar Singh, a scholar diplomat, followed suit and joined public service again under PM Indira Gandhi and worked in the coveted Ministerial positions even as EAM. The heading of this blog ‘As I Please’ is in fact has been borrowed from his columns which I read and relished in the near past. Next name which comes fore is of Meira Kumar, a sober but gracious daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram. Meira Kumar made to Lok Sabha and became a Minister under PM Rajiv Gandhi and even rose to become Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Another illustrious diplomat, Mani Shankar Aiyar who worked in PMO as a senior Aide to PM Rajiv Gandhi won the trust of his boss and became an MP and a Minister in the process. I always tended to read his informative and thought provoking columns in the media. Going down the line, Pavan Verma was elected to Rajya Sabha and served as an Advisor to CM Nitesh Kumar of Bihar and now, I understand, he has joined hands with the newly floated outfit called Jan Suraj Party of Prashant Kumar in Bihar. Yet another diplomat, Manoj Bharti who replaced me in Minsk (Belarus) as Ambassador in 2011, its seems, has jumped the bandwagon of Jan Suraj Party as I saw him sitting by the side of Prashant Kishore in a public event the other day. I also read somewhere that Madhu Bhaduri, a sober and gorgeous diplomat, also joined politics for some time and was one of the founding members of the AAP and later resigned. I also, as a novice, burnt my fingers and worked with AAP in Punjab for a year or so in 2016-17 and resigned as I found politics was not my cup of

tea. Harinder Singh Khalsa, son of a renowned politician of Punjab, Gopal Singh Khalsa in 1940s, resigned from IFS in the wake of Operation Blue Star at Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar and later joined politics. He was elected to Lok Sabha more than once and remained Chairman of the National Minority Commission of India. I also read that K. C. Singh, who also worked with President Giani Zail Singh in mid 1980s, also tried his hand at politics and floated a fledgling outfit in Chandigarh towards the end of 2020s but could not make much dent.. Azad Singh Toor joined public life under the banner of Congress Party and INLD of Haryana in 2020s but could not make any headway like K.C. Singh. It was also in the news that Sanjiv Arora whom I replaced in Prague in 2004 also jumped on the Congress Party bandwagon in 2024 but is yet to become vocal and visible. In the recent years, Hardeep Singh Puri and Dr. S. Jaishankar made their mark in the government of PM Narendra Modi and are holding coveted positions as Minister of Petroleum and Minister of External Affairs respectively. I have had opportunities to work with both of them during my diplomatic career, with Hardeep Puri in Sri Lanka

Vidya Chander with Kayko Jaishankar in Prague

and with EAM Jaishankar in Prague. As the shining stars of IFS, both of them did well in politics and are delivering with authority and competence. The latest entry into politics, before the nomination of Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Rajya Sabha, was that of Taranjit Singh Sandhu who immediately after his retirement as Ambassador of India to the USA was picked up by the BJP to contest Lok Sabha election from Amritsar in 1924 but he could not make it. I have opportunities to meet and interact with Taranjit Sandhu and his gracious wife, Reenat Sandhu, yet another diplomat, short in height but big in stature, in early 1980s when Taranjit was attached to EE Division of MEA where I was an Under Secretary. I am recounting this just from my memory as a student and practitioner of diplomacy since 1970

and might have missed some name by oversight.. With this I wish Harash Vardhan Shringla all the very best in his new avatar as a politician. I am confident he will do his best and deliver like his illustrious IFS colleagues who ventured to join politics. This piece may not be complete, if I don’t mention the names of some of the personalities who transformed themselves from diplomacy to public life - Mohd. Yunus, a trusted Aide of PM Indira Gandhi, P.N Haksar, an intellectual face of PMO during PM Indira Gandhi’s regime, Brajesh Mishra, J.N. Dixit who respectively served as National Security Advisors to PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PM Manmohan Singh. Both Brajesh Mishra and Mani Dixit were men of caliber and jewels of IFS fraternity. The process is on would continue adding more feathers in the hat of IFS in the service of India that is Bharat.

Apna Mukkadar Aap Banate Hain Ehle-dil

Hum Who Nahin Jine Zamana Bana Gya