Thread by @SaketGokhale

How Dr. Manmohan Singh charmed foreign investors & economists:

A former editor of mine in S’pore recounted his experience of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) conference that was held in HYD in 2006

He said “U guys hijacked the summit & made it a shiny roadshow for India. (1/14)

With all senior bankers of the world & policy makers of Asia congregating on HYD, PM Dr. Singh (2 years into his tenure), decided that India needed to achieve something concrete out of this rather than be a mere host. (2/14)

Separate immigration channels were set up & all delegates were personally received at the airport. The idea was to woo them even before they set foot on Indian soil. (3/14)

This summit was also one of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s earlier interactions with the global press.

“Gosh, was that man insanely charming or what? We couldn’t get enough of him”, said my editor. (4/14)

EVERY visiting journalist, regardless of their publication, was given personal facetime with the new Indian PM. Every economist & banker worth their salt had one-on-one interactions with PM Dr. Singh. (5/14)

And as my editor said “Dr. Singh was surprisingly down-to-earth & a fantastic listener. Even as journalists, he was keen on listening to our views & feedback on India’s economic policy & kept asking questions.

This was unexpected for us when we came to India.” (6/14)

There were no Bollywood evenings & selfies. There was no chest-thumping or megalomania.

It was a projection of soft economic & intellectual power using expert panels of civil servants & senior UPA leaders to dazzle every1 in the room who the summit was meant to dazzle. (7/14)

This topic came up recently during a conversation with a foreign correspondent friend/ex-colleague who covers South Asia & PM Modi’s foreign visits.

Modi is going to soon visit the UAE, Bahrain, Russia, & the US. (8/14)

I asked him about Modi’s foreign trips & their impact. He smiled & said “The problem with your PM is that he is too obsessed with himself.

Indian soft power was earlier a vehicle for promoting India. Now it merely seems like a tool to promote Modi’s individual image.” (9/14)

He added “Modi will use these images to bolster his image back home but I doubt how much impact it actually has on international leaders and investors. He mostly interacts with NRIs anyway”. (10/14)

The reporter’s last line was, “The problem with Modi is that he isn’t receptive to suggestions. He doesn’t listen. Hence, there isn’t much scope for any interaction. His never addresses the press. All he does are staged “events” & the goal is to please him”. (11/14)

I now remember Plato’s story of The Cave. It applies to Modi’s fans very aptly. When you willfully live in a dark, damp cave all along, you start to spite anyone that tells you the truth of the outside world. Mr. Modi knows this and uses it fantastically to his advantage (12/14)

Sadly, in this process, the country ends up with a sour bargain. Rather than being the product that he’s meant to sell overseas, Indian soft power has now become an advertising tool whose pure purpose is to sell and boost Mr. Modi’s image.(13/14)

Oh & here what happened after the ADB summit by Dr. Manmohan Singh.

FDI inflow into India almost doubled & grew from $25 bn in 2008 to $40.4 bn in 2009.

That’s the kind of magician Dr. Manmohan Singh was for whom India’s growth mattered more than his promoting himself. (14/14)