NARENDRA MODI REPLACES INDIA’S FOREIGN SECRETARY WITH ENVOY TO U.S.

[The timing seemed to have been partly dictated by Mr. Obama’s visit. Mr. Jaishankar played such an important role in coordinating it that it would have been disruptive to replace him until it was over. And Mr. Jaishankar was due to retire on Saturday, after which he could not have been appointed because only an active foreign service officer can be named foreign secretary.]

By Ellen Barry

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was named India’s foreign secretary on Thursday.

He was formerly the country’s ambassador to the United States.

Credit Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

NEW DELHI — Just days after the conclusion of a visit from President Obama that was widely seen as a success, India has abruptly removed its highest-ranking diplomat and replaced her with its ambassador to the United States, who served as a crucial interlocutor between New Delhi and Washington before the summit meeting.

The appointment of the ambassador, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, as foreign secretary, which took effect on Thursday, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modisteers India toward a closer partnership with the United States. Mr. Jaishankar, who has also served as ambassador to China and as high commissioner to Singapore, was a crucial negotiator on the groundbreaking 2008 civilian nuclear agreement between India and the United States.

He replaces Sujatha Singh, who was appointed by the previous government led by the Indian National Congress party, the main rival to Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Ms. Singh articulated India’s angry reaction to the 2013 arrest of India’s deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, on visa fraud charges, an episode that brought relations between the two countries to their lowest point in years.

No explanation was given on Thursday for the reshuffle, which was unusual. More than 15 years have passed since a foreign secretary was removed before the end of his or her term.

The timing seemed to have been partly dictated by Mr. Obama’s visit. Mr. Jaishankar played such an important role in coordinating it that it would have been disruptive to replace him until it was over. And Mr. Jaishankar was due to retire on Saturday, after which he could not have been appointed because only an active foreign service officer can be named foreign secretary.

Still, some commentators saw the announcement as a signal of Mr. Modi’s intention to deepen cooperation with the United States.

“I don’t know of any foreign secretary who had his experience of dealing with America before becoming foreign secretary,” said K. Shankar Bajpai, a former Indian ambassador to the United States and China.

He added that Mr. Jaishankar’s primary task in his two-year term would be “to consolidate the understandings that are growing between Washington and Delhi, and obviate tensions, as far as possible, between Delhi and Beijing.”

One of the most notable developments during Mr. Obama’s visit was a joint India-United States statement that chided China for provoking conflict with neighbors over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Mr. Modi has also expressed interest in concrete steps aimed at balancing China’s regional influence, such as reviving a loose security network involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Mr. Jaishankar has voiced support for such measures. A 2010 cable written by American diplomats and released by WikiLeaks described a meeting at which he “said India would like to ‘coordinate more closely’ with the United States in the face of China’s ‘more aggressive approach to international relations.’ ”

Opposition leaders questioned the decision to replace Ms. Singh, who had six months left in her term.

“If the prime minister was not happy with her work, why wait until after the presidential visit?” Manish Tewari, a Congress party spokesman, said in televised comments. “If something happened during the visit, the government needs to clear the air.”

In recent months, Mr. Modi has given high-level positions to Indians with years of experience in the United States. The government’s chief economic adviser is Arvind Subramanian, who until last fall was working at two Washington research centers, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development. And the vice chairman of India’s new planning commission, announced this month, is Arvind Panagariya, an economics professor at Columbia University.

In a brief appearance before Indian journalists, Mr. Jaishankar said he was “very honored” by the appointment, but he declined to elaborate on his geopolitical agenda.

“My priorities are the government’s priorities,” he said. “I think at this time let’s leave it at that.”

@ The New York Times