As Britain prepared for India’s Independence, an interim government was formed in Delhi on September 2, 1946. It was technically an expansion of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, but for all practical purposes, it was the Indian Cabinet, led by Jawaharlal Nehru. On October 9, it took the far-reaching decision to establish the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) with the mandate to look after India’s external interests at home and abroad.
As a British colony, India did not have an independent foreign policy. There was an Indian Political Service, that was entrusted with the task of overseeing British interests, under London’s supervision, in the Indian princely states and with India’s neighbours such as Nepal and Afghanistan. However, the members of this service were not diplomats. A free India needed diplomats to engage with the world and assist in the formulation of foreign policy and its execution. Thus, the IFS was born.
Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats Who Built Independent India’s Foreign Policy
HarperCollins India
Pages: 368
Price: Rs.699
Kallol Bhattacherjee’s Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats Who Built Independent India’s Foreign Policy—a pioneering and ambitious work— examines the background, experience, inclinations, talents, and aptitudes of the many men and women who joined the new service. They came from different social and professional backgrounds, a testament to India’s diversity. Bhattacherjee explores how these diplomats navigated India’s interests as fundamental changes occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War, with the colonial world giving way to an age of dangerous ideological contestation under the shadow of nuclear confrontation.
Bhattacherjee gives a brief account of the debates that took place on the experience of individuals who should be recruited to the service. He also writes about the initial years of the evolution of the Ministry of External Affairs. He could have provided greater clarity for both general readers and students of international relations by focussing more on the essential attributes of the civil service structures of which the IFS became an integral part of. He could have dwelt on the concept of “cadres” and of “posts”, so that the readers could truly comprehend the contents of the History of Services. If not breaking the flow was the objective, he could have done so in a separate note. Such an approach would only have add to the merit of this otherwise excellent book.
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Bhattacherjee’s focus is on Indian diplomats who began working in the 1948-1958 period. Some became members of the IFS, while others remained as what, in later parlance, were known as “political appointees”. Once a decision was taken to continue with the Indian Civil Service (ICS), it was inevitable for the initial leadership of the IFS to go to ICS officers who came on secondment. It was necessary to maintain parity between those who chose to enter the IFS and those who remained in the domestic sphere; this led to the creation of the post of Secretary-General (SG) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), who became the professional head of the ministry. There were four SGs, all ICS officers, with the second SG—N.R. Pillai—moving from the Cabinet Secretary’s job. He remained so for six years until his retirement. The last SG, M.G. Desai (not R.K. Nehru as Bhattacherjee mentions; this is not the only inaccuracy that has crept into the book, and hence, a greater fact check was necessary) retired only in November 1964 when Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri—who, unlike Nehru, had little interest in the IFS—abolished the post. The MEA would come within normal government functioning, and the Foreign Secretary would, as the first among equals among MEA Secretaries, become its professional head.
Great distinction
Along with the ICS, special recruits from different backgrounds, including those from the defence services and those with a princely lineage, came into the IFS. Direct recruitment through the then Federal Service Commission and later the Union Public Service Commission began in 1948. A few IFS officers recruited in 1948-58 achieved great distinction not only in the world of Indian diplomacy but also in politics. They were relied upon long after their retirement to handle issues of national importance. They wrote extensively about their experiences and contributions to the diplomatic world.
Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats Who Built Independent India’s Foreign Policy by Kallol Bhattacherjee | Photo Credit: By Special Arrangement
Bhattacherjee insightfully notes the work of many of them. Some occupy a hallowed position in independent India’s history. However, as he writes, “...the main focus of this submission is on the diplomats who did not write about themselves because they viewed their responsibilities more as a task for the Government of India or as a subjective experience that could not be dealt with autobiographically.” It is here that Bhattacherjee excels in bringing to life the professional contributions, personalities, and fascinating facets of some of the first diplomats of India. In this process, he also highlights the eclectic and plural spirit that animated Indian nationalism, which is best illustrated by Nehru’s plain directive “Wilfred must go”.
The roll call of the “forgotten” begins with P.R.S. Mani and his Indonesian connection, which played a role in developing India-Indonesian ties in the aftermath of the Second World War. It includes the fascinating Nanu Nambiar, a one-time deputy of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and his chequered diplomatic career.
“A few IFS officers recruited in 1948-58 achieved great distinction not only in the world of Indian diplomacy but also in politics.”
Bhattacherjee devotes an entire chapter to Dilip Kamtekar, who joined the IFS in 1952 and served in some African and Arab states setting up “Indian missions in places they did not exist before”. He also notes the extensive contributions of Rajeshwar Dayal of the ICS to India’s multilateral diplomacy, especially in the area of decolonisation. That was a time when Nehru was in the vanguard of creating space for newly independent nations during the Cold War. Indian diplomats worked tirelessly to accomplish his vision.
‘Videsh Mantralaya’
Bhattacherjee also focusses on the life and work of C.S. Jha, ICS, who joined the MEA early on and, as Foreign Secretary, was present at the India-Pakistan talks in Tashkent in 1966. In this list, he also dwells on Mirza Rashid Ali Baig, a one-time assistant of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who became disillusioned with the idea of Pakistan and joined the IFS to lay the foundations of its Protocol Divisions.
Bhattacherjee also looks at the contributions of the few women who joined the diplomatic world with sheer grit. These included Sarojini Naidu’s academic daughter Leilamani and Mira Ishardas Malik, who became a China expert but had to the leave the IFS because of the then iniquitous rule that married female officers could not continue in the IFS. Of course, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, who served in significant diplomatic assignments, was never an IFS member.
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Few will now recall that the great Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a Hindi officer in the MEA. He gave it its Hindi name “Videsh Mantralaya”. Bhattacherjee does well to recall his association with the MEA. He also does well not to overlook the work of the MEA staff.
This outstanding work needs to be read widely and not just by Indian diplomats, past and present.
Vivek Katju is a retired Indian Foreign Service officer. He served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan from March 2002 to January 2005.
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