GOI MOBILIZES TO SELL US-INDIA FRAMEWORK AND SHAPE

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 006545

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015
TAGS: PREL ETTC KNNP MNUC IN US NSSP
SUBJECT: GOI MOBILIZES TO SELL US-INDIA FRAMEWORK AND SHAPE
PRESIDENTIAL AGENDA

Classified By: Acting DCM Geoff Pyatt, Reasons 1.5 (b) (d)


1. (C) In an informal conversation on August 24, Prime
Minister's Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru told A/DCM that the PMO
would shortly unveil an advisory task force whose job would
be to help sell the new US-India bilateral framework and to
develop recommendations for action between now and the
expected visit of President Bush early in 2006. Calling this
idea "one of the bosses' great inspirations," Baru credited
Prime Minister Singh with pushing the PMO team to begin
focusing systematically on what can be accomplished in the
US-India bilateral relationship over the next few months.


2. (C) Baru confirmed reports in a Hindi daily (not yet
picked up elsewhere) that this advisory team will be headed
by respected strategic analyst K. Subrahmanyam. However,
Baru added, the group will also include experts on economic
and military issues. The PMO intends to review the full
spectrum of bilateral interaction and to develop a machinery
for winning over skeptics of the transformed US-India
relationship.


3. (C) Comment: Subrahmanyam's selection is a shrewd one,
bringing to our bilateral agenda someone with long standing
credentials among India's nuclear hawks who more recently has
emerged as one of the most prolific and forceful advocates of
a US-India partnership grounded in India's own interests.
Subrahmanyam, for instance, led the briefing team that Baru
brought together to background members of the Indo-US
Parliamentary Forum before the formal debate on the PM's trip
to Washington. A former Secretary (Defense Production) and
long time security analyst, Subu is the unchallenged dean of
India's strategic commentators. An active participant in
Track II fora like the Aspen Strategy Group, Subrahmanyam
knows the vocabulary of US-India relations as well as anyone
in Delhi (helped along by his son, MEA Joint Secretary S.
Jaishankar). India has a long tradition of ineffective
advisory panels that provide little more than a sinecure for
retired officials. But Sanjaya Baru's enthusiasm for this
exercise and his report that the idea sprang directly from
the PM suggests this group will be different. In the best
case, the Subrahmanyam panel will help to build political
consensus for rapid progress on the steps that technocrats
like Brau support as a means to fulfill the promise of the
July 18 Joint Statement.
MULFORD