NEW DELHI // A day after the US president Barack Obama ended his trip to India, the government fired its top foreign ministry official and replaced her with its current ambassador to the United States.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar took over as foreign secretary on Thursday, describing his elevation as “a big responsibility”. He had served as India’s ambassador to China before taking up the job in Washington.
The government on Wednesday cut short Sujatha Singh’s tenure by six months without giving a reason.
The Indian Express newspaper said Mr Jaishankar, 60, was rewarded for turning around India’s ties with Washington – organising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in September and then implementing Mr Modi’s idea of having Mr Obama as chief guest for India’s Republic Day celebrations this week.
Mr Obama’s visit highlighted the warming relations between the US and India, which are both wary of China’s geostrategic aims and looking to boost economic growth. They reached a breakthrough on civilian nuclear cooperation and signed deals to strengthen defence ties, including the possibility of sharing technology for aircraft carriers.
Along with his experience representing India in the world’s two biggest economies, Mr Jaishankar helped negotiate the groundbreaking US-India civil nuclear agreement in 2005.
“A big plus point for Jaishankar is he has elaborate experience with the US,” said Salman Haidar, a former Indian foreign secretary. “This is an extremely important relationship for India and the prime minister.”
Indo-US ties suffered a set-back after Devyanai Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York, was arrested in December 2013 on visa fraud charges. She left the United States in January last year and now works in New Delhi.
It is rare for the foreign secretary to be dumped out of office, and Ms Singh is just the second Indian foreign secretary to be unceremoniously removed from office in nearly three decades. In 1987, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi fired A P Venkateswaran for announcing a visit to Pakistan apparently without approval.
“It’s a very Modi-like decision and characteristic of the prime minister,” said C Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi. “It sends a message down to the bureaucracy. The message is that performers will be rewarded.”
Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party rejected criticism over the timing of Ms Singh’s removal and said it was not political.
“The government is within its right to appoint any one for any responsibility,” said party spokesman Nalin Satyakam Kohli. “Jaishankar is an outstanding officer and he enjoys a stunning reputation.”
* Associated Press and Bloomberg