Big Mouth strikes again

Diplomacy, as we have had occasion to say earlier, is about timing. Few statements could have been more poorly timed than US Ambassador David Mulford?s remarks, first on the issue of the Indian vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran and, more recently, on the opening of retail to foreign direct investment.

Diplomacy, as we have had occasion to say earlier, is about timing. Few statements could have been more poorly timed than US Ambassador David Mulford’s remarks, first on the issue of the Indian vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran and, more recently, on the opening of retail to foreign direct investment. Remarkably, the ambassador’s remarks on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail came just after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought to douse the fires of anger that his Iran remarks had lit. In response to a question on the issue, the prime minister, somewhat generously declared that “to err was human”. But to err twice in the space of a week requires a degree of felicity in reading things wrong.

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The decision to open FDI in single-brand retail was part of a delicate exercise through which the government had hoped to bring around recalcitrant allies. Mr Mulford cannot be unaware of the situation of the UPA government. It depends for its survival on a clutch of allies, some of whom feel strongly about both issues. With the IAEA set to meet to decide on the issue later this week, and the budget session of Parliament a month away, what Mr Mulford has succeeded in doing is to undermine the position of the Union government in relation to its allies, as well as its intended policies. Undoubtedly, this was not his plan. But in the real world, we are responsible for the consequences of our actions, rather than on what we intended to do. While it is the job of an ambassador to push the policy of his government in the country to which he is posted, we would argue that this is better achieved through unobtrusive suggestions and actions, rather than the way Mr Mulford has been going about of late.

India has had a long history of poor relations with the United States and all reasonable people are trying their best to put their relationship not just on an even keel, but also on terms of friendship based on mutual interest and profit. But an estrangement that has been a half-century in making cannot be undone in the space of a year or two. It requires patience, hard work and, we dare say again, a subtle sense of timing.