Thread by @GorwayGlobal

A thread
India #EAM S Jaishankar's remarks at a webinar 5 May 2021.
As part of his G7 visit, @DrSJaishankar took questions on India's covid epidemic what the Govt was doing about it and other matters. @Manjoladwa was the interviewer. catch it here:

This is just my take on what he said, part opinion, part riposte, part follow on Questions.
General impression: he was typical politician, partly evasive, defensive, deflecting the tough Qs and careful to defend his Govt's record and his boss the PM.

Mr Ladwa was frank and forthright in his lead-in Questions, but far from probing and challenging when his Q was clearly being evaded. It was not, nor was it meant to be, an @maitlis style @BBCNewsnight grilling.

Q. The secondwave.
A. Yes it was a very serious "all-consuming" crisis, SJ agreed. BUT it was similar to what UK went through late 2020. It was a virulent strain.
Q. Did the Govt take its eye off the ball.
A. That's not a fair criticism, SJ said. We went from 10k a day to 380k

The Uk went through the same thing. The Centre sent in 75 teams to var states - Mah and Kerala were mentioned. repeated advisories not to let our guyard down. (So there its all these Srtates' fault you see)
We also sanctioned hundreds of Oxygen plants (!!)

"But I diont want to play the bl;ame game we were all complacent "
Q. What abiout he Mass Rallies?
A. Here SJ went into a long homily about how important democracy was in India. (what have rallies got to do with democracy, when you shut Parliament?)

A quick oblique reference to the mid-70s when elections were cancelled. "What would the world have said if we had cancelled the elections?" here @maitlis would have jumped in with, "But the criticism was abt rallies not elections!!"

On Rallies SJ's defense was juvenile. "It can not be that religious gatherings are a no-NO, but protest crowds are okay." reference here to Freedom House report on India's democracy. Then a quick plea to set aside the blame game, "its an existential crisis" you see

(My take: that is weak defense of all those election rallies. I'd have asked, why did you not both cancel the rallies and dissipate the farm protests by withdrawing those farm laws? In any case if protest crowds are bad how does allowing #Kumbh make it better?)

Q Lessons to learn re Health systems.
A. here a convenient if accurate assessment of 75 years of neglect of health spending. "Modi brought in Ayushman Bharat". @maitlis wud've jumped in "that's not health infrastructure expansion, is it".

Q Oxygen supply.
A. recognition that there is a huge gap in supply and infrastructure but SJ listed all that the Govt was doing. huge effort, grateful for all the international help.. we're giving it our all, but it is a "painful crisis"

The last 20 m was on the economy (he managed to bring in #aatmaNirbharBharat (what DOES it mean in policy terms), a list of economic reforms incl the Production-linked Incentive scheme in 13 sectors. and a promise of "no backtracking on economic reforms",

(really, economic reforms?? many economists don't see any meaningful reforms)
An FTA with UK wud be expedited.
Q. India domestic issues criticised in UK Parliament.
A. as expected rejected british MPs discussing and commenting on India's Parliament.

But they didn't. I don't think anyone briefed the #EAM properly. see my column explaining the background to this. newslaundry.com/2021/03/17/the…

He was also critical of the foreign press when they comment about India. (But this appeared unnecessarily prickly) the example he gave was FT referring to Covaxin as an 'experimental vaccine' But the fact was when it was approved it WAS experimental, the trials were on-going!!

But do watch the full interview. the EAm was in a reflective mood, but at times appeared unsure where his responses might take him so plenty of half-completed sentences... here is the link again: