India’s ambassador designate to US Jaishankar, his take on Chindia & his mother’s Veena

INDIA'S envoy to China and 1977 batch IFS officer S Jaishankar, who had narrowly missed the foreign secretary’s job, has been named as India’s next ambassador to US. Considered as one of the most talented diplomats of all time, Jaishankar is the son of former IAS and doyen of India’s strategic affairs K Subrahmanyam, known in his circle as KS or Subbu. The photo used here is the Veena played by Jaishankar’s mother which his father kept…
as a decorative item at Jaishankar’s Noida residence where they were living. Subrahmanyam, who was instrumental in shaping India’s nuclear and defence doctrines, died two years ago, aged 82. His brother Sanjay Subrahmanyam is a noted historian.
Before joining as IFS, he graduated from St. Stephen’s college in Delhi. He has an MA degree in political science and an MPhil and PhD in international relations. His specialization was nuclear diplomacy, a subject dear to his father's heart.
Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) actually wanted Jaishankar to be India’s foreign secretary, but it finally played safe, not wanting to create a controversy by making him the top diplomat of the country when there were officers senior to him. Sujatha Singh, a diplomat belonging to 1976 batch and the one who ultimately clinched the top job, reportedly made it clear in writing that Jaishankar’s elevation would force her quit the service. Ms Singh, daughter of the former Intelligence Bureau chief and ex-Governor TV Rajeswar, is known to be close to 10 Janpath, the official residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Jaishankar would now follow Nirupama Rao as India’s envoy to US. Earlier, this Mandarin-speaking diplomat had followed Rao in China as well.
Jaishankar, who outmanoeuvred the Chinese diplomacy a number of times, says on record that Chindia’s relations are still below expectations. After playing a key role in defusing the crisis of Chinese incursion in Ladakh early this year, the BoI wrote a piece based on what he said in an interview appeared in PLA Daily. “…trust, a balanced economic relationship and better communication and cultural understanding” could boost bilateral ties. Jaishankar also said that the relations probably moved about 20 points up in the last one decade. In fact, about 60% of the total agreements between India and PRC were reached during the last one decade. Yet, why have the relations failed to get a better score? “Because, if we don’t make efforts, we really cannot fully exploit our convergences on many big issues of the day. We would do well to remember that the decline of India and China in the 18th-19th century was connected. So too were their re-emergence as modern states after the Second World War…”, Jaishankar said.
His batch-mate in IFS Ashok Kantha, who is incidentally son-in-law of senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, will now replace Jaishankar in Beijing.