A former Minister of State for External Affairs and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, 56-year-old Shashi Tharoor is the prize-winning author of 13 books, including the classicThe Great Indian Novel (1989), India from Midnight to the Millennium (1997), Nehru: The Invention of India (2003) and most recently Pax Indica: India & the World of the 21 st Century (2012). In 2006, he was India’s candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as the UN Secretary-General, and emerged second out of seven contenders. He has won India’s highest honour for Overseas Indians, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, and numerous literary awards.

How do you look at the relevance of NAM, especially in view of the crises in West Asia?

With the end of the Cold War, there are no longer two rival blocs to be non-aligned between, and many have questioned the relevance of a movement that signifies the negation of a choice that is no longer on the world’s geopolitical table. But NAM embodies the desire of many developing countries to stake out their own positions distinct from the West-led consensus on a host of global issues like energy, climate change and trade. The ongoing “Arab Spring” has affected several NAM members. The countries that have undergone the most significant changes — Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria — are members of NAM. The movement should be a vehicle to pursue a resolution of the issues swirling around the turbulence of the region. But its members can’t forge a common position and the anti-Assad views of many of them on Syria, for instance, are not very different from those of the West.

How do you look at the US constantly nudging India to reduce its engagement with Iran in view of its N-programme?

The US is entitled to its view, and we to ours. We should pay attention to the international community in formulating the details of our own position. But our calibrated position – where we support some strictures on Iran, but insist on maintaining essential trade links – is right.

How important is Iran for India to protect its strategic interests in Afghanistan?
Iran’s views on Afghanistan have largely been compatible with ours. Since Iran is Afghanistan’s western neighbour, it is an asset in our Af-Pak policy.

Do you think (we can have) normal relations with Pakistan?

If we continue hostility with Pakistan, we shoot ourselves in the foot because hostility to Pakistan hurts us. Our foreign policy ought to be about our domestic interest, which is to develop our country and ensure the security and well-being of our people. It’s in our interest to have peace with Pakistan. We won’t be able to focus on development if we have troubled borders. Investors are not going to come to a war zone; trade will not flourish; and a constant threat from Pakistan will act as an albatross around our neck. Peace is in our interest, far more than in Pakistan’s perhaps. But we must do so with our eyes wide open. There are reasons to mistrust elements of the Pakistani power structure.

You suggested there should be a separate foreign service exam.

The current approach to recruitment — which requires all entrants to come through civil services examination, the same one that produces administrators, tax officials and police officers — has limitations. A diplomat should not be someone who fell short of his or her goal of becoming an administrator, a customs official or a crime-busting sleuth. We need internationalist-minded young Indians. We need diplomats, not bureaucrats — young people with an interest in world affairs, an aptitude for languages and an engaging personality.

How do you see the recent SMS war against people from the North-East?

The only way to prevent panic is by a sustained public education campaign making all Indians feel welcome everywhere in India and by tough action against those who threaten people from other states.

How do you look at the India Against Corruption (IAC) campaign against the UPA government?

It is wrong to politicise the battle against corruption, which is a national cause in which every Indian has a stake. The UPA is against corruption. But we may have a different view about the suitability of the IAC’s Jan Lokpal Bill as the best way to tackle it.

Tell us something about your new book Pax Indica.

There hadn’t been a substantive book on India’s relations with the world. My vision of foreign policy is a means to enable the transformation of India by accelerating its growth, preserving its strategic autonomy, and protecting its people. We need to move beyond non-alignment to multi-alignment. My metaphor is that of the World Wide Web. In this increasingly networked world, we are going to have to work through multiple networks, and the networks will sometimes overlap with each other, but sometimes they will be distinct; they all serve our interests in different ways.

How do you look at your association with the IPL in hindsight?

I wish I had been blessed with greater foresight when I first got involved with IPL.

How do you see your future in politics?

Bright but unpredictable, like every optimistic politician’s!