Trump nationalist, our ties remain strong: Jaishankar

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Interacting with the students of Hansraj College here, Jaishankar said diplomacy was not about neutrality, it was about options in national interest. “Diplomacy is about national interest. If national interest requires me to go with somebody, I will go, stay neutral, do good things, do bad things. I have a single guidance. If my country is better off, I will manage,” the EAM said, answering questions about exigencies of diplomacy.

Talking about ties with the US, he recalled his recent visit during Trump’s inauguration, saying, “We were accorded a good treatment. That is a signal.”

He went on to say, “In a way, he (Trump) is an American nationalist… Our issue today is that our relations with America are good. PM Modi’s personal relationship with President Trump is good. When I look at their policies, there is nothing which is -- at a country to country level -- negative about us.”

“I am quite confident that he will change many things. Sometimes we say that his policies are out of syllabus, so we have to conduct a foreign policy that is out of syllabus,” the Minister said.

He added that overall, India and the US had good ties. He also mentioned Trump’s 2020 India visit, saying, “President Trump has very good impressions of that visit. There may be a few issues, on which we may think a little differently, but in many areas, there is a lot, which is shared.”

Talking about PM Modi, Jaishankar described him as a “motivational boss” with “tough” standards and high expectations. “The PM will give people freedom, but keep tabs of the status of the progress of work done,” he said.

On India’s volatile neighbourhood and China’s growing influence, Jaishankar referred to the story of Indian Cricket Team’s rise from the 1970s onwards. “Cricket and diplomacy are similar. We also need to contest, while our neighbours have their own politics, and politics change. We can’t always have a favourable regime. We have to plan for permanence in ties with neighbours and engage them through economic incentives, energy, tourism and education,” he said.

Without naming any country, Jaishankar said, “We must believe that some countries in our neighbourhood will indulge in anti-India activities. We must not be reactive to these stances, but plan ahead for solutions. The bottom line is that we must harbour a strong sense of competition with them.”