Bhopinder Singh | Donald Trump Has Proved That ‘Hugs’ With World Leaders Far From Diplomacy

The vocabulary, doctrines and concepts of modern Indian diplomacy owe a significant debt to the late K. Subramanyam, doyen of Indian strategic thinking. The avowedly non-partisan intellectual has been described as a “pragmatic realist” who held firmly to a “strong vision about India’s national interest”. His thinking had constantly evolved and adapted with time and circumstances, without succumbing to hard-wired political ideologies, for they often put partisan considerations before prudence. K. Subramanyam’s assertive diplomacy was about substance and not optics or political theatre -- something that our contemporary times have regressed to.

Today’s reportage about diplomacy is shorn of traditional restraint and professional sobriety, and is instead fuelled with jingoistic fervour, which is laced with unmistakable partisanship and with traces of the personality cult. Each foreign policy engagement, initiative or visit is peppered with expressions like “masterstroke”, “first time in history”, et al, with ample dosage of whataboutery and “data” to make each outcome appear to be beyond questioning.

K. Subramanyam had forewarned about the exact nature of such a culture of deification that clouds reality and wily-nilly suggests a picture that is rosier than reality.

He had sagely gone as far as saying: “One thing we must avoid is as soon as we elect a man to office, we start deifying him. We treat those people as though they were gods. They are not … They must be held accountable.”

However, questioning foreign and security policy (among many others) in today’s times risks puts one at the automatic risk of getting questioned about one’s patriotism as the conflation of the idea of the nation with a certain partisan flag and an individual is complete. Ironically, the man in charge of steering India’s foreign policy is none other than the legendary K. Subramanyam’s son, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the current external affairs minister. A brilliant diplomat with an otherwise impressive career, he now increasingly, but strangely, sounds more politically thunderous than diplomatically measured.

One such vacuous element of empty posturing that makes for manufactured optics and suggestions of progress, but has clearly fallen short of delivery, are the viral-friendly “hugs” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is a part of “pageantry diplomacy”, that is shorn of gritty negotiations, such as the multiple rounds of the Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbot India-US talks away from the media glare that had once happened,

by the same ideological persuasion earlier. Embracing world leaders with shoulder squeezes and extended torso contact has replaced professional and serious negotiations. Culturally, hugs could be awkward and cringy as seen by the reactions of the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, or former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who were a bit surprised and looked decidedly uncomfortable. Recently, the social media had a meltdown with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with his presumable British correctness and stiff-upper lip, confused with the process of “huglomacy”.

So, if US President Donald Trump has mastered the art of aggressive and dominating handshakes (replete with pulls towards himself showing dominance); India’s Prime Minister undertakes a “TV Reality Show” type of sudden “hugs” that could lead to stiff or awkward reciprocation. But symbolism and opinions about the same aside, it essentially lacks nuance and substance in itself. While the TV channels go ga-ga about the ostensible “chemistry” between top leaders and what all such show of personal equations suggests and augurs for the future, the focus shifts from “what it actually achieves” to “how it actually looks”.

Given that the ruling side is blessed with a thoroughly inept, confused and fledgling Opposition, which has failed to hold the government to account, it ironically took an unhinged Donald Trump to demonstrate the uselessness of the theatrical “huglomacy”. The government’s media management has been so effective in recent times that the Opposition has completely failed to point out that our diplomacy has probably never had it worse in the neighbourhood. Not only did we get into armed conflict with China (2020 summer) and Pakistan (Operation Sindoor), but have managed to punt wrongly and have in place anti-India governments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Maldives!

However, the charm offensive for Donald Trump went beyond “huglomacy” as it had entailed an unprecedented “Abki Baar Trump Sarkar” chorus by the Indian PM (which too had then proved to be a wrong bet).

However, Mr Trump’s subsequent win for his second term was generally hailed in New Delhi as a better outcome given the so-called “personal chemistry” between the two leaders. It was wrongly and naively assumed that Pakistan would be dealt more firmly vis-à-vis India and we were to be afforded a special place given this Trump-Modi connect.

The hard reality of Mr Trump doubling down on India (whilst going easier on Pakistan) has been a rude shock that mocks the “huglomacy” style of diplomacy, that is seemingly higher on style than performative strategy.

Rediscovering India’s “true friend” in Russia on the rebound is natural and even warranted -- but it took a Donald Trump to do what the Indian Opposition could not -- point to what the late K. Subramanyam had presciently insisted, to hold the ruling side of the day “accountable” for its actions and outcomes, instead of “deifying”!

Despite many hints of a breakthrough on trade issues, neither side has announced any conclusive deal. Despite the common threat from China, there has been no privileged or strategic reciprocity afforded, beyond commercial offers. Visa/immigration issues remain unresolved and India had to burn bridges with traditional allies like Iran, owing to American pressure. The form of “huglomacy” over substance or delivery has been brutally exposed -- as it had only enthused the cadres overtime, but failed to deliver.

The writer is a retired lieutenant-general and a former lieutenant-governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry