Modi’s Australia Visit : Major Takeaways
November 21, 2014
‘Rock star’ Narendra Modi is fast acquiring words in his lexicon. Consider the ‘shirt-fronting’ remark with a hint of a wink at the start of his historic address to the joint session of the Australian parliament on the very last day of his visit to the Kangaroo nation!
He had picked up typical Australian football slang with aplomb. The use of the same phrase by his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, with whom he now shares a very warm personal equation, had left Russian President Vladimir Putin fuming. But Modi’s use of the same phrase made a telling impact on the Australian parliamentarians as they clapped to applaud Modi.
During his Australia visit, Modi often departed from his trademark Hindi oratory to mesmerise the world with his English. As he spoke in English for almost 25 minutes at the Australian Parliament, even the Australian media was floored. A columnist going on to describe his words as “stylish” that “also carried a serious message: India is open for business”.
Modi Exuded Warmth during his interaction with World Leaders
The first six months of his tenure were supposed to be the testing times for Modi’s foreign policy as the period coincided with some major global events such as the BRICS summit in Brazil, the UNGA in New York, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meet in Nepal, the East Asia Summit in Myanmar, and the G-20 summit in Australia.
Modi’s interaction with the world leaders at these international forums has, indeed, been a revelation. The International Business Times reported that he was the most ‘sought after’ in the midst of all major world leaders at the G-20. The Guardian described him as one of the most popular figures at the summit. His warm hug to the host prime minister Abbott, who wanted leaders to ‘speak from heart’, was a huge photo-op for the world media – so used to the formal handshakes and cosmetic gestures.
Modi, though, had done this with Shinto Abe too during his Japan visit, building an instant rapport with the Japanese Prime Minister. In Washington too, his effusive warmth ensured President Barrack Obama making a rather impromptu last-minute decision to accompany him to the Martin Luther King Jr memorial to pay homage. Back home, his image of swinging together with the visiting Chinese President Xi Jingping at the banks of River Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, still endures.
Modi Wooes NRIs in Australia
Australia has been the eighth country that the Indian Prime Minister has visited in the less than six months of assuming office. The visit had the trademark Modi stamp and a definite pattern that refreshingly resonate his ‘India First’ policy. He has used the trip to showcase his innovative schemes and to exhort support for their implementation – whether be his ‘Make in India’ concept, ‘Skill Development’ initiative, his ‘Swachh Bharat (Clean India)’ campaign or his ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’ for empowering the rural poor.
Modi, at the same time, has proved to be an artful negotiator who tactfully involved the hugely influential Indian diaspora whether in the USA or in Australia to pitch for the deal.
There had been much similarity between the shows at the packed Madison Square Garden in New York and the Allphones Arena Olympic Park in Sydney, where he addressed the Indian diaspora.
Modi Raised Concerns over China and Pakistan in Australia
Modi is also in tune with the political aspirations of the global powers. Hence, in India while on one hand he deftly negotiated on Chinese investments with the visiting Jingping, he successfully cobbled up support over India’s concerns in the wake of China’s growing ambitions in the Indian Ocean in Japan as well as in Australia.
Similarly at the USA, while on one hand he thwarted Pakistan’s attempts to internationalise Kashmir at the UNGA and exposed its support to militant outfits operating from its soil against India, on the other hand, he deftly convinced Obama to facilitate deeper defence cooperation with India.
International diplomacy is an art of jugglery and Modi has learnt it fast. His attempts to corner Pakistan seem yielding fruits. Recent reports suggest the USA has warned Islamabad against any misadventure during Jammu and Kashmir elections.
Modi’s efforts to further isolate Pakistan continued in Australia also where again without naming Islamabad, he exhorted the Australian Parliament to make a resolve to “isolate those who harbour terrorists” and called for a “closer security cooperation, but, even more a policy of no distinction between terrorist groups or discrimination between nations”.
Modi’s visit picked up the threads from Abbot’s India Visit
It may be mentioned that Abbott was the first world leader to be received in New Delhi in a full state visit under Modi’s regime. At that time, both Australia and India had inked pacts of cooperation in the field of India’s civil nuclear programme, Sport, Water Resources Management, and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Besides, Australia had also agreed to work towards increasing sales of coal and natural gas to India.
Modi’s visit picked up the threads from there and the two countries signed five more pacts on social security, transfer of sentenced prisoners, combating narcotics trade, tourism, and Arts and Culture. Both sides also agreed on a closure on the civil nuclear deal that allows Australia to sell uranium to India for cleaner energy. Significantly, cleaner energy was an issue that Modi raised also during the G20 summit. Besides, another important issue was repatriation of black money and maritime security cooperation that figured during his visit besides trade and investment between the two countries.
Both Modi and Abbot called for a Framework for Security Cooperation and more collaboration on maintaining maritime security.
Some other important deliberations made were on:
• An open integrated global trading system
• A free trade pact between the two countries
Obviously, India-Australia relationship is on a new high, after the visits of Abbott and Modi to each others’ countries. Their bonhomie ensures that.
As for Modi, one can count on Abbot’s words: “I have never seen any leader as rapturously received in Australia as PM Modi”. So far so good.
Comments
Post a Comment