On the sidelines of an Indo-Pak Track-II dialogue hosted by Washington-based Atlantic Council, Narendra Modi, not trade or visas, was the recurrent theme.
Read with belligerence by Arnab Goswami on Times Now, my Pakistani interlocutors made no secret of the fact that they were a worried lot. “You guys talk in one breath of ‘Aman ki Asha’ – the high-decibel programme on confidence-building measures anchored by one of your large newspapers...and the same evening your Arnab herds 2-3 discredited generals and declares war,” complained a noted banker turned academic.
It took some effort on my part to have my fellow discussant appreciate the line between what the marketing machine was conveying via ‘Aman ki Asha,’ versus war-mongering that the lead anchorman in their sister channel might be doing on the same night. It would be good therefore, if NaMo devoted one of his speeches on a roadmap for trade relations with our western neighbour. Here I wish he expanded on what he said in October, praising Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s balance – between “shakti and shanti,” the Sanskrit terms for power and peace.
Brookings scholars Teresita C. Schaffer and Howard Schaffer saw this particular speech as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate appeal to India’s cultural heritage, and specifically to the Hindu heritage that is central to the core ideology of his party.
“The strength of Indian culture is a point of pride across the political spectrum, but coming from Modi’s BJP, this emphasis delivers a message more domestic than foreign. It could have foreign ramifications, however. In his speech, Modi commented that India’s concern for non-resident Indians should also extend to Sri lanka’s Tamil population, whose families have lived in Sri lanka for at least a century and in many cases far longer.”
“The most important message in Modi’s (October) speech was the centrality of economics in his thinking about foreign policy. He addressed this theme at greater length and in greater detail than any of the others, exhorting India to increase exports, build its future on its strong information technology sector, and turn the dangers of global climate change into a business opportunity for India’s entrepreneurs. He showcased India’s talented migrant labor – “doctors, nurses, teachers” – and its innovation as the heart of India’s “soft power” in a more prosperous future.
Here, Modi was building on his record as leader of one of India’s fastest growing states. The level of detail suggests that this part of the international agenda is where his passion lies.” NaMo’s emphasis on enhancing India’s economic performance is evidence that a welcome mat is out for business.
If he followed his economic logic and pursued the currently stalled economic opening between the two neighbors, this alone could put New Delhi and Islamabad on a more constructive path. The central premise of this robust exchange hangs on a liberal visa regime. Pakistani students, senior-citizens and business professionals can’t be the exceptions to something akin to visa-on-arrival that New Delhi is laying out for nearly the entire planet. At the moment, they are given visas for specified cities, that too after surrendering their passports along with the application for prolonged periods of time.
A confident India under NaMo could change the culture of mutual suspicion by deeper checks on dubious applicants, thereby leaving the rest of Pakistan’s peace-loving population to rediscover business deals with us and the ancestral roots they left behind between 1947 and the 1960s. On the other hand, a bombing or other incident must bring out the tough side of policy. For that, “there are plenty of spoilers around who might produce such a scenario,” the Schaffer duo have presciently observed.
(The columnist works at the intersect of media, strategy and regulation. Follow @therohitbansal).