Sushma Swaraj in Parliament

In her four decades of politics, few have stolen the thunder from Sushma Swaraj. A master of inflection and prosody, the External Affairs Minister was again acclaimed for her speech in Parliament on the tenets of India's foreign policy under the Modi government. But the fact that the Opposition moved two privilege motions against her strengthens the impression that she is not top of her game. Appearing frail after a life-threatening illness that she courageously overcame, Swaraj's rarely went into the heart of the topic: how is India faring in its ties with strategic partners.  She denied Russia was aligning with Pakistan because a line in its joint statement with India had condemned Pak-based terror; India's riposte to Trump on climate change proved it was not a junior ally of the US; and, the most facile of them all, talks and terror cannot go together.  

It is ironical that one of the privilege motions was on the political part of her speech. The Opposition may be making much of a factual error in this respect. But she was being disingenuous by alleging that Nehru sought personal glory at the Bandung Conference, the foundation stone for NAM. For, just two years earlier, Swaraj had omitted Nehru while praising India's role in Bandung as part of the Modi government's policy to erase Nehru's footprints on Indian foreign policy milestones. Was this turnaround coupled with an attack on the Opposition for getting briefed by Chinese diplomats and the unadulterated praise of the PM, her attempt to build bridges with the all-powerful PMO?

The Opposition was being unfair when it cited her absence on the PM's overseas tours as evidence she was out of the government's foreign policy implementation loop. These former UPA ministers, better than most, should know Foreign Ministers usually do not accompany PMs on overseas tours. But the Opposition missed pointing out an obvious sign that the Modi government is an extremely closed run affair: she is absent on ground-preparing visits for the PM's visit. Swaraj was at her assuaging best on the sensitive Sino-Indian border dispute. Hers is a voice that should be heard more often.