India-France ties in consolidation phase

India-France relations have the potential to far exceed what was possible in ties with the Soviet Union during the heyday of relations, and far exceed the possibilities in India-US relations now.

Republic Day chief guests have traditionally been invited because India wanted to explore or expand relations with the guest country. Prominent examples are Georgy Zhukov and Kliment Voroshilov of the Soviet Union in 1957 and 1960, Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian co-parent of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1968 and 1974, and 10 Heads of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a group in 2018, when New Delhi was seeking their collective support for its ‘Act East’ policy.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s acceptance of the Narendra Modi government’s belated invitation to be the chief guest at this month’s celebrations will be different. Exploration of relations is out because India-France relations are all-round, comprehensive, and deep. The theme changed to consolidation when Macron agreed to fill in for United States President Joe Biden, who decided that his political survival at home was more important than being seen at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

France has been the Chief Guest on January 26 on five occasions. When Macron views the elaborate parade this year, France will overtake the United Kingdom and become the country which has been invited the maximum number of times. The most distinguishing difference, however, is that Macron being in the guest seat will be different from that of any previous occupant of the Élysée Palace, except for Jacques Chirac in 1998. It was the second time for Chirac: he was chief guest in 1976 as Prime Minister.

Chirac’s 1998 visit laid the foundation for the thriving bilateral relationship that India and France enjoy today. It is not hyperbole to say that the sky is the limit in India-France relations, far exceeding what was possible in ties with the Soviet Union during the heyday of relations. Far exceeding the possibilities in India-US relations now. The by-now-well-known chemistry between Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make a big difference in consolidating what has been achieved bilaterally between the two countries.

The contrast on January 26 this year will also be that India has not always had the best experience with Republic Day outreach to the Élysée Palace. An invitation to Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 to be chief guest was a wasted opportunity. Sarkozy came for just two days; as if he was attending the parade on what was then Raj Path and associated events by rote. He was in a hurry to return without taking in the flavours of the occasion like most Heads of State do. The visit was also distracted by tabloid-type speculation about the attractive Carla Bruni, the President’s singer-songwriter-fashion-model-celebrity girlfriend.

The big story of that State visit was not about strategic partnership or civilian nuclear energy, but whether Bruni will turn up at the Taj Mahal and surprise the French paparazzi. She did not and Sarkozy went to the Mughal ‘monument for love’ forlorn, all by himself. Sarkozy realised his mistake and came back two years later — with Bruni, by then married to the President — but that trip too was bedevilled by the First Couple’s Page-3-type visit to a dargah in Fatehpur Sikri to pray for a child. At least, Bruni became pregnant with daughter Giulia soon after she tied a supplicant’s red thread on the latticework inside the dargah while making her wish. The paparazzi got their fill with the First Couple walking barefoot, heads covered at a shrine in the mystical Orient.

In the section on France in his book, Why Bharat Matters, published this week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has emphasised that relations with Paris “will require assiduous tending. For India, in recent years, ties with France fit the challenge of ‘right-sizing’ its crucial partners.” He has warned not to take the bilateral partnership for granted because the two countries are in very different geographies “that will naturally decide both priorities and interests.”

In a significant break with history, Modi was the first foreign visitor to be received by Macron when he was first elected President in 2017. In the old days, it would inevitably have been the Chancellor of Germany or the Prime Minister of the UK or another European leader who would take that place. That points to the intrinsic value of current India-France relations. That and the subsequent trajectory of their engagement make it surprising that Macron was not invited for a Republic Day earlier, in the last six years. It augurs well for France’s exceptional ‘Third Way’ of promoting India-inclusive trilateral relationships that this omission will be rectified on January 26.

(KP Nayar has extensively covered West Asia and reported from Washington as a foreign correspondent for 15 years.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.