NEW DELHI
The Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra has come into international attention after he wrote a letter to a prominent Irish newspaper defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi which also criticised the Congress era as a rule “by a single dynastic party”. The issue acquired prominence after the Embassy of India in Dublin on April 15 used the official handle of the mission on social media platform ‘X’ to put out a letter that Mr. Mishra had written to the editors of The Irish Times protesting against a recent editorial which took note of the arrest of the serving Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said ‘an intolerant Hindu-first majoritarianism is the order of the day’ in India.
“The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys unprecedented popularity and profile not only in India but globally because of his impeccable personal character and integrity and thought-leadership on innovative, inclusive governance and sustainable development,” Ambassador Mishra had said in his letter to The Irish Times.
Speaking about Mr. Modi, he further added, “As he does not belong to any elite political family, his personal life inspires millions of ordinary people in India and other developing countries.”
Referring to the previous governments, which amounted to be observations about the current opposition, in India, Ambassador Mishra said, “The fight against the deeply entrenched ecosystem of corruption (created by the 55-year rule, including first 30 years, by a single dynastic party in India) is a major factor behind Mr Modi’s ever growing popularity.”
The Irish Times had made critical observations about Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and said that Mr. Modi has “leant heavily on a widespread crackdown on free speech and opposition parties, with hundreds of politically targeted corruption cases and tax cases filed against opposition MPs and leaders,” adding, “India’s democratic credentials have been severely tarnished.”
The newspaper noted two of the most prominent recent cases – the arrest of Mr Kejriwal and the freezing of bank accounts of the opposition Congress and said, “The BJP denies any role, with Modi insisting the federal agency conducting most of the investigations, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is independent. Yet 95 percent of its political cases have been filed against the opposition.”
Mr. Mishra took charge of his current posting on October 6, 2021, and has a distinguished three-decade long career as an Indian Foreign Service officer. He earlier was posted as the Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) during 2019-’20. He also served as the Indian envoy to Maldives during 2016-’19 and as the Consul General of India in Toronto (2013-’16). A native of Varanasi, Mr. Mishra speaks Spanish, Italian and Nepalese as his foreign languages.
Ambassador Akhilesh Mishra’s remarks about the previous governments of the country drew a tough response from Jairam Ramesh of the Congress who said the observations were “unprofessional”. Mr. Ramesh stated in a subsequent post on ‘X’, “This Ambassador is actually a career diplomat which makes his comments even more shameful, disgraceful and completely unacceptable. He has actually breached service rules and should be sacked right away.” Indian diplomats posted abroad are expected to support and publicise the programmes and schemes of the incumbent government but a criticism of the political opposition by a serving Indian envoy is rare.
