BRICS: Multiple gaffes ruin Modi's first big moment on global stage

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his diplomatic outreach right at his swearing-in on 26 May and followed that up with a quick trip to Bhutan, it was the BRICS summit in Brazil that was always going to be his trial by fire in multilateral diplomacy. And, a day after the grand announcement of the BRICS development bank, though the Indian side will hardly admit it, the prime minister’s trip was not a resounding success. Multiple goof-ups including missed opportunities and poorly scheduled meetings that eventually did not take place, have hit Modi’s biggest moment on the world stage till now. The prime minister landed in Berlin en route to Brazil on Sunday for the much-publicised dinner meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, but the latter was away in Brazil watching her national side win the FIFA World Cup. A day later, a scheduled meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin did not take place, replaced by a hurriedly put together 40-minute chat much later on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_1620517” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PM Narendra Modi with Chinese president Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit. PTI[/caption] According to a report in The Telegraph_,_ Modi’s meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping was to have been followed immediately by a meeting with Putin. But Putin was not yet in Fortaleza at the scheduled hour, his own meeting with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, 1600 km away, having lasted two hours longer than expected. And, as it turned out, attempts to reschedule the Putin-Modi meeting failed temporarily. The report said, “Sections in India’s foreign policy establishment are wondering whether the avoidable delay in Putin’s landing in Fortaleza — where he knew the Indian Prime Minister was waiting for him — represents a signal from Moscow that New Delhi needs to decipher.” As reported in _Firstpost_ earlier, the Russian president is scheduled to visit India later this year for the next Indo-Russian annual summit. Modi would have been keen to take the Indo-Russian strategic partnership to the next level amid the challenge of the shrinking Indian defence contracts for Russia. That Putin chose to keep Modi waiting in Fortaleza raises some questions on how the Russians view that partnership which has been somewhat tepid in recent years. What’s more, they were set to discuss a multi-million dollar proposed hydrocarbons pipeline from Russia to India. Reading between the lines, there is also the possibility of Russia expecting more overt support for its offensive against Ukraine. The two leaders eventually met late on Tuesday night but from early reports it appeared that the two did not discuss the pipeline project. PTI reported that Putin congratulated Modi on his electoral victory while Modi invited the Russian president to visit Kudankulam during his December trip to India. Modi fondly recalled his visit to Russia’s Astrakan region in his early days as Chief Minister of Gujarat which has ties with that region. Talking about that visit, he said he felt as if he was in India. Speaking in Hindi, Modi said, “Even a child in India if asked to say who is India’s best friend will reply it is Russia because Russia has been with India in times of crisis.” Even assuming that this is merely overthinking a mundane missed appointment, the fact remains that team Modi had just not foreseen the possibility, as with being stood up by Merkel when it was well known at the time of scheduling that Germany was in the last 16 of the Fifa tournament and stood a good chance of playing on the last day. A report in The Times of India, which says the Berlin gaffe may have messed up the trip somewhat, goes on to add that the Indian government should have anticipated this possibility “before even going down this path which ended in a bit of embarrassment”. In addition, the move to attempt a hurried meeting with Merkel may have have ticked off Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Tokyo was to have been Modi’s first major bilateral engagement, so planning the Berlin stopover could have left the Japanese prime minister unhappy. The TOI report says the Tokyo visit will take place eventually, “but with a bad taste all around”.