Envoy Sandhu’s US brief comes with many a challenge

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 28

Indian diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be landing at the deep end as the new Indian envoy to the US. He has to not just prepare for US President Donald Trump’s visit next month, but also navigate through a US Congress critical of New Delhi’s political policies, but interested in a closer strategic and an enhanced buyer-seller relationship, especially of military goods and oil.

Sandhu steps into the shoes of Foreign Secretary-designate Harsh Vardhan Shringla to continue with the attempt to preserve India’s trade advantage with the US, delicately balance America’s China-containment strategy with India’s own interests in the neighbourhood and ensure White House leans more towards South Block than Islamabad, all the while catering to the interests of a 30-lakh Diaspora and an increasing number of Indian students.

The diplomat, however, is no stranger to awkward and difficult situations. His tenure in Sri Lanka was challenging, having had to negotiate through the shoals of a Sri Lankan President and PM not on the same page, followed by the return of the Rajapaksas who nurtured suspicions of Indian meddling during the elections as well as a crucial no-confidence vote in Sri Lankan Parliament.

In his earlier postings in the US, he worked with the Indian diplomatic team to mitigate the effects of sanctions following India’s nuclear test in 1998 and, over a decade later, dealing with the aftermath of the Devyani Khobragade episode.

Sandhu’s attitudes were shaped in north India. Alumni of Lawrence School, Sanawar, which has produced several diplomats, bureaucrats and Army officers, Sandhu never forgot the school connection by inviting its current headmaster and select students to Sri Lanka to forge ties with one of its elite schools.

This was followed by his graduation from St Stephen’s College in Delhi followed by his masters from Jawaharlal Nehru University. His wife is currently the Indian Ambassador to Italy.