March 18, 2025
Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, ORF America was interviewed by The Commune on diplomacy, strategy, and his career path so far:
6. Are you a China hawk or a US hawk? Is the rhetoric about the Deep State valid or overhyped?
I don’t like to conform to labels and would leave it to others to draw their own conclusions. I do write – and try to demonstrate clearly – in the second part of my book that China is a major obstacle to India’s international ambitions, whether it is India’s economic transformation, its neighbourhood policy, the regional balance of power, relations with Pakistan, or matters of global governance. Indians should have clarity about that. Meanwhile, India’s relationship with the United States is complex. There are many areas of cooperation covering virtually every domain, which many critics in both countries frequently overlook. But there remain continuing differences, as over Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, trade, immigration, and social issues, and these should be addressed candidly. In fact, I find Americans are generally receptive if India’s position is explained clearly and they appreciate candour. On assessments of the United States, I find a lot of Indian commentary frankly embarrassing. The U.S. is – like India – a competitive democracy with multiple formal and informal interest groups advocating for a variety of positions, some supportive of and some critical of India. These must be analyzed objectively. I find those that buy into a simplistic ‘deep state’ narrative suffer from the same problems – specifically, an over reliance on certain Western media narratives – that they accuse their critics of.