India's NSG bid: PM's diplomacy takes a hit

Modi had aggressively pushed for case

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have thought only China stood in the way of India’s admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)—a cartel of 48 countries that control the development and trade of nuclear material and technology.

But what has come clear is that, despite Modi’s personalised diplomacy, New Delhi was in for a shock treatment from countries like Switzerland and Brazil who were among the six countries that supported China at the NSG meeting.

The prime minister had raised his stakes in the NSG entry by aggressively pushing for India’s case. He spoke to heads of each of these six countries as their position on new NSG members was well-known.

Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann personally assured him on June 6 that India had his country’s “full support”. Switzerland went to back China’s stand at the Seoul meeting of the NSG on Friday.

Officials said Modi was so confident about Switzerland’s support that he had openly acknowledged the Swiss president’s support after meeting him in Geneva on June 6 because of that assurance. 

“I am thankful to the President for Switzerland’s understanding and support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We have both agreed to support each other for our respective bids for the non-permanent membership of the UNSC,” Modi said, while delivering the joint statement with the Swiss president. This was after Schneider-Ammann said before that “we have promised India support in its efforts to become a member of NSG.”

Similarly, officials pointed out that, Modi had engaged the heads of Brazil, Austria, Turkey, New Zealand and Ireland on a personal level in pursuit of India's bid for the UN Security Council as well as the NSG in the last two years. But they went along with China’s position against entry of all non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) countries till their admission criteria was settled. There was little consolation that of the 48 members of the NSG, 38 countries broadly backed India.