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