GOR: IMPOSING UNDIPLOMATIC DOMINANCE

RECENTLY, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal posted a telling picture on his X handle.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

It showed the minister flanked by the controversial US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Ambassador Sergio Gor in a convivial pose. The photograph captured the new informality that has suddenly infused Indo-American relations.This image conveyed camaraderie rather than deference. Such pictures were rarely shared on public platforms during State visits in the past. Ambassador Gor has made that difference.

Ambassadors, traditionally, are the invisible persuaders who whisper counsel in shadowed corridors rather than stride forth as aggressive masters commanding the spotlight. Yet, in the teeming diplomatic theatre of New Delhi, Gor, America’s freshly-minted envoy to India, has shattered this cardinal tenet with a flamboyance that borders on the brazen. At a mere 38 years old, the youngest ambassador posted to this pivotal perch in recent memory has arrived like a whirlwind. He started his operations long before he presented his credentials to President Droupadi Murmu on January 14.

His hyperkinetic tenure suggests overreach. He has already completed visits of defence installations, state capitals, corporate boardrooms, political salons. He has hosted lavish soirées at his residence. Indian ministers and MPs do not merely meet him; they trumpet these encounters as badges of prestige. One might mistake him not for the nominee of a foreign president, but for a de facto American viceroy wielding unfettered access to every corridor of power.