MEA speaks in one voice to Norway,another to Italy making Delhi look confused and silly There is a vast pool of Indian citizens working and living across the world,subject to the laws of the nations they live in. When does the Indian state choose to involve itself,to argue their case with a foreign government,or provide assistance? That is a diplomatic judgment call,but it still needs to hew to some objective principle. In Stavanger,Norway,the Child Welfare Service could have erred in plucking two small children from their homes,accusing the parents of negligence,and placing them in foster-care. It infuriated many in India,and the suggestion is the Norwegian authorities imposed their own narrow normative judgments,without being sensitive to the cultural differences of Indian parenting (a charge they have denied). As agitated TV networks flog the case of our children,and political competitors rush in,the MEA has now made it a full-scale diplomatic issue. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has rushed a special envoy to Norway. Authorities there today said they would hand over the children to their uncle if a court agrees. If it doesnt,expect more impassioned calls from Delhi. When was the last time the Indian state made an issue out of an individual case? (Maybe when the then minister of overseas Indian affairs petitioned on behalf of Anand Jon,accused of rape,even as he ignored the cause of Indian dock workers in Mississippi.) On the other hand,the MEA is intransigent on the matter of the Indian fishermen killed by Italian marines and insists that Indian laws apply in international waters though Italy argues they were simply its navy marines defending their ship. In this case,the MEA has flopped down to the Kerala governments pressure to act against the Italian soldiers. But in both cases,it has simply flopped down to other forces,and taken contradictory positions,rather than acting from any strategic sense. One case certainly weakens the other. It is not about the merits of the Norwegian case and the Italian one but the fact that the MEA needs to present some sense of being a unified,coherent body,bound by some operating principles. It is certainly its mandate to look out for Indian citizens,but jumping at random expat scandals just because they hit the headlines or have domestic traction and then turning them into diplomatic confrontations is just silly.
