External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
Credit: PTI Photo
Tokyo: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday exuded confidence that India will have a stable government for 15 years, even longer, as he highlighted how long-term political stability helps a government make 'bold' decisions.
Jaishankar, speaking at the Nikkei Forum on India-Japan Special Strategic Partnership here, said a reformist and visionary leadership backed by a strong political mandate, which in a democracy means having a majority in Parliament, results in 'bold decision making'.
The minister's comments were in response to a question about political stability in India and whether the upcoming elections will affect India's foreign policy.
India in May this year heads for crucial general elections with more than 950 million citizens gearing up to exercise their right to choose the government.
'Hundred per cent we will have 15 years of stable government. It could even be that of 20 years or longer,' Jaishankar said in response to the question.
'Every country, every society is different so what can apply to India need not always be the same for other countries. But our own experience was that the lack of stability in politics or not having a majority in the Parliament to take bold decisions makes a very big difference,' he said.
'If you have a reformist, a leadership with a vision, with a commitment and that leadership is backed by a very strong political mandate and a strong political mandate in democracies means having a majority in the parliament, then it leads to bold decisions. That is really what is the combination unit. In other cases, you have a majority but you don't have a vision, or you have a vision, but you don't have the political support. So you need both. What has happened in our cases, certainly for the last 10 years we've had and we hope to continue that. So you know, in many cases, we have seen decisions which were debated for years, but suddenly you found the ability to do it,' he said.
The minister added that political stability meant policy stability as somebody taking a big bet on India would want to know what India would be like for the next 10 years. If the investor does not know what it will be like a year from now or six months from now then the investor, be a domestic or a foreign, will be hesitant. So when you do a country's risk evaluation, political stability is a very important part of that,' he said.
'Fortunately, that has been good for us for the last decade, and I am very confident for the next one,' Jaishankar, also a senior BJP leader, said.
Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to Japan from March 6-8 to impart further momentum to bilateral exchanges and set the agenda for future cooperation.
The minister on Thursday addressed the 16th India-Japan Foreign Minister's Strategic Dialogue with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa and participated in the first Raisina Roundtable, a key step towards enhancing track two exchanges between India and Japan.