On 6 February 2025, ALIF SOCIETY welcomed the new Indian HC, Sri Anurag Srivastava, over dinner at the Water Edge Garden, in the presence of many personalities.

After the cocktail, the guests [about 150] were seated for a dinner which was followed by speeches and dessert.

Below is the speech by the President of Alif, Mr Dawood Auleear:-

Folks,

We have the pleasure to welcome tonight Shri ANURAG SRIVASTAVA who comes from the world biggest democracy, the land of the grandfathers of the majority of Mauritians, of Nobel and other laureates, of Tagore, A R Rahman, Arundhati Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Kalam, Shakuntala Devi, of 22 scheduled languages and 19,500 dialects to express love diversely, the land of spices that render our food so tasty. The names I have quoted are a good mix as Democracy needs dissenters and critical thinkers as well to avoid homogenization, regimentation of thought and Mono-culturalism which may in turn lead to uniformity but alas, never to genuine unity. At the same time, let us not forget the Big Fat Indian Wedding that generates $71 billion in celebrations and produces a positive effect on the GDP. HC, one idea springs to my mind: why don’t we try and outsource some of those weddings to our hotels.

We have the luck to be loved by India and we love India too. High Commissioner, it is you and your colleagues that have been relentlessly working towards this love affair. But what makes India to be loved? It is because of India’s generosity and its democracy that allow a peaceful co-habitation of adepts of so many religions and speakers of so many languages and people of so many physical traits who all sing in unison Jana Gana Mana.

HC, India and Mauritius have no enemies, except one………. the threat of poverty. To keep the wolves at bay, PM Modi has called for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or self-reliance. Since you are our seniors, we let you lead the way in the struggle and do allow us, your juniors to reap the fruits of your labor.

At a time, when the world seems to be in turmoil because of the change in the behavioral pattern of states, India has no choice but to change its tools of foreign policy. A volunteer has still to be found to stand in the shoes of your foreign policy team. Who would be mad enough to carry the can for this omnidirectional diplomat called Jaishankar and walk on his tight rope and to produce ‘Viksit Bharat’, ‘Developed India’. With so many neighbours, some with unstable governments, a constant effort is required through thoughtful and unifying regional leadership to have peace.

Viksit Bharat and Vishwa Bandhu are lofty ideals for a foreign policy. India does not want to give up though it requires Herculean efforts to achieve them. To proceed toward those foreign policy goals, India needs to travel light, avoid unnecessary enemies, make the largest number of friends; the million-dollar question is how to find friends in a volatile and turbulent and unpredictable world landscape.  How can you draw a map if you are facing uncertainty? Finding answers to the questions raised must be left to specialists but let me point out one. Margaret Thatcher had said: ‘No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.’ And India heard that voice loud and clear. The demographic deficit is haunting many parts of the world and India’s supply of manpower have a great future as a great foreign income earner.

HC, you are present in faraway Arctic with your Himadri Research station where you are focusing on glaciology, carbon recycling, atmospheric pollution and space weather. Your underwater IndARC observatory is enriching you by a comparative study between arctic and monsoon weathers. The outcome is obvious. It would be a boon to the Indian subcontinent meteorological services and attract good neighborliness.

Your Arctic policy, titled “India and the Arctic: outlines your interests, which include economic and resource prospects, sea connectivity, and reinforcing its presence in the region. This sea connectivity is crucial as it reduces the travel time considerably and have positive effects on costs of goods and services. The Arctic becomes increasingly important for New Delhi as it seeks to expand sea trade routes to access more markets for its growing exports, and secure passages for shipments of oil and other vital commodities.

Let us return to your immediate neighbourhood, the MENA, an important source of your energy needs and which houses 500m people, is rich in hydrocarbon and is a potential green corridor; it has traditionally been a bridge between Europe and Asia. You are leaving no stone unturned to provide a supply chain with the IMEC, the India-Middle East- Europe corridor.

Finally, India will end up creating and being part of a spaghetti sort of connectivity linking all the parts of the world that will help a flow of trade and other exchanges at affordable costs, eliminating possible disruption in the supply chain for the benefit of the world. What a blessing to the countries of the Indian Ocean Bassin. Would it be premature to say” thank you India”?

HC, your country sings Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world is one family; we believe, you are also working towards this lofty ideal. We believe India has no choice but to succeed in its effort to create a family of nations and teach a lesson to the UNO. God speed India.

And on your role HC, Jon Huntsman Jr has the word “the real secret about diplomats is that they are trained to say something when there is nothing to say and to say nothing when there is something to say” and I would add: say something about meat when you meet the butcher, and say something about bread when you meet the baker, and say something about sandwich when you meet them together. Happy stay in our country with all our best wishes.