‘I think for PM Modi, politics is more of a vocation than career. And frankly, I admire someone like him who is in politics to give back rather than get.’
New Delhi: For 28 years, between 1986 and 2014, no Indian Prime Minster visited Australia and there were only four Australian prime ministerial visits to India. The relationship failed to take off despite shared values, interests and aspirations. “India and Australia have so much in common that we have often taken each other for granted… To be blunt with you, we in Australia have tended to put too many eggs in the China basket, if I may say so,” concedes former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. But it all changed in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister for the first time, and with his “hug diplomacy”, he wowed one and all. Abbott, then the Prime Minster of Australia, was no exception.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Guardian, Abbott also talked about his close friendship with Prime Minister Modi, why India should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and how Quad is an alliance for good. Excerpts:
Q: Your current trip is significant in India-Australia ties building. You have been intensively engaged in some serious business last week. Any significant outcomes?
A: Obviously, it was an honour to spend some time with Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday afternoon and also to be at a dinner hosted by Union Minister Anurag Thakur with 22 other ministers and MPs Tuesday evening. There’s no doubt that in the leadership circles of both Australia and India there is massive enthusiasm for closer relations. And why wouldn’t there be? Not only is India the world’s emerging democratic superpower, but Australia is everyone’s favourite partner: big enough to be helpful, but not so big to be overbearing and with very little of the baggage of history.
Q: You have a wonderful relationship with Prime Minister Modi. How do you look at him?
A: The most interesting thing about Prime Minister Modi is that he didn’t have a standard politician’s life. He came from a very humble background, he spent sometimes as a monk in the Himalayas, he has lived tough and thought deeply, and he has joined politics through the path of community service—all this makes him a unique politician and Prime Minister. I think for him politics is more of a vocation than career. And frankly, I admire someone like him who is in politics to give back rather than get. The other thing about Prime Minister Modi is that India has been much more active globally under his leadership. I think Modi has been the most significant Indian Prime Minister in many years, and the most active after Jawaharlal Nehru. India has always been a colossus of South Asia, but it has been fairly passive in the wider world. With Modi as Prime Minister, it has found its voice globally. I think that’s going to be good for India and the world.
Q: How are Australia’s expectations from PM Modi in bolstering strategic ties?
A: I know PM Modi is keen to see stronger ties with Australia. Perhaps looking at elements of RCEP only on a bilateral basis could be a way forward here.
Q: The India-Australia relationship failed to take-off despite shared values, interests and aspirations. How do you see it?
A: This is a fair assessment. I think India and Australia have so much in common that we have often taken each other for granted. For instance, in 28 long years between 1986 and 2014, no Indian Prime Minster visited Australia and there were only four Australian prime ministerial visits to India. To be blunt with you, we in Australia have tended to put too many eggs in the China basket, if I may say so. My hope is that in the years to come we will put as much emphasis on the relationship with India as with China. I want to see the world with a second democratic superpower. At the moment, we have got one. It would be good to have two democracies that have a heavy global impact.
Q: Do you see the Australian visa for Indians getting easier and in what categories?
A: I can speak for myself here, and not for the Australian government. But the fact that Australia’s Education Minister Daniel Tehan chose to make his first overseas visit to India shows the importance we place on educational ties and our understanding that there should be the least possible visa friction. Certainly, I see no reason why visas for Chinese students should be easier than those for Indian ones.
Q: How can India and Australia be perfect partners in the Ocean Rim?
A: It can happen by further consolidating the Quad, which is ideally placed to be a like-minded partnership for peace and development.
Q: How is the Quad growing up? Is it aimed at containing China?
A: For us, it has been an alliance for good. I use the term alliance loosely because there’s no formal military alliance in place between the United States, India, Australia and Japan, although there’s growing close cooperation between the four nations. I don’t see this coalition against anyone. But the more actively great democracies work together, the more this world would be free and peaceful.
Q: When you were the Prime Minister, Australia signed a nuclear deal with India. How has it helped rejuvenate the ties?
A: As you remember, the Howard government was keen to have a nuclear engagement with India and to allow Australia to sell uranium to India. Unfortunately, under Howard’s successor, the issue was put on the backburner, and I was keen to put it back on the track. So was Narendra Modi. It seemed ridiculous that Australia should be selling uranium to countries that were Australia’s strategic competitors and not selling it to a country like India which is a friend.
Q: India has been trying for decades to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. What’s your stand on the issue?
A: If there is one country that deserves to be the UN Security Council, on the virtue of its size, strength and potential, it has to be India, which is close to being the fifth biggest economy in the world. As I have said before, it would be great if there are two democratic superpowers in the world, not just one. So, I am in favour of the expanded UN Security Council.