The government summarily discharged foreign secretary Sujatha Singh on Wednesday, cutting her fixed tenure of two years short by six months, and replaced her with S. Jaishankar, until Wednesday our ambassador in Washington.
Both officers are first class. So, it is not about individuals but about institutions. While a government has the prerogative to choose the head of a service, its action became conspicuous for its astounding lack of grace. Actions such as these are likely to hurt the morale of a professional cadre. The new leader of the foreign office is thus taking charge in inauspicious circumstances which are not of his own making The Sujatha Singh incident brings to mind the sacking of foreign secretary A.P. Venkateswaran at a press conference by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, an event that had created tremors in the establishment.
The present episode is equally destructive of the elan of a fine body of international affairs professionals in a service that is tiny in size and for that reason calls upon each of its members to go the extra mile and produce quality outcomes.
In this unseemly turn of events, fingers are pointing at Prime Minister Modi himself. The grapevine suggests that the PM was impressed with Mr Jaishankar when he was our ambassador in China, and more recently in the US, and was apparently not so taken up with the working ways of Ms Singh. But working on the basis of personal chemistry has in this case downsized an institution, and been unfair to a competent professional. That’s not the way of a mature country.
It cannot but be remembered that the foreign secretary’s sacking has come on the heels of a very successful visit of a foreign dignitary of the order of the US President, on which the Prime Minister had staked so much. This is not an object lesson likely to impress younger professionals in government, many of whom would have worked extraordinarily hard, and delivered. It is being said that Mr Modi wanted to elevate Mr Jaishankar in a hurry as the latter was due to retire in two days. This is a limp explanation. To achieve the same result, Mr Jaishankar’s term in Washington could have been extended by a few months until the incumbent foreign secretary retired.
Mr Jaishankar takes charge under onerous conditions. He will have a tenure of two years from the date of assuming charge “or until further orders”. This is whimsical. It means his term could be whittled down. The heads of other services now have a fixed tenure. The IFS thus stands differently treated.
