Engineer turned Diplomat: Meet the New Consul General of India in Sydney

By Raj Natarajan

We the Australian Indians always keep in contact with the developments in Indian Consulate offices around Australia as well as the office of the Indian High Commission in Canberra because we use their services all the time whether it is for e-visas or OCI cards required to travel to India, inviting artists from India or for furthering trade and commercial links with India. Therefore I was interested in meeting the new Consul General of India in Sydney, H.E. Mr Manish Gupta who has recently taken over the role from H.E. Mr.Vanlalvawna.

Indian High Commissioner H.E. Dr. A.M Gondane was at the reception event at the Indian Consulate office at Castlereigh street of CBD to introduce the new Consul General, H.E. Mr. Manish Gupta. A cross section of the Indian Community in Sydney was invited to this event. However I had the opportunity to meet the new Consul General earlier at a function at NSW Parliament House and it was my second meeting with the new Consul General and he graciously agreed to give me an interview exclusively for The Indus Age. Following are some of the excerpts of that interview:

Raj: Welcome to Sydney and Australia and if you could tell us where else you served as an Indian Diplomat before coming to Sydney to take over as the new Consul General.

CGI: After joining Indian Foreign service, I served in places like Brussels, Dakar and Istanbul before coming to Sydney and my Indian Foreign service spans more than 2 decades starting from 1998. However wherever I have served I have noticed good will towards Indians because of their hard work and commitment to their employers.

Raj: Let us understand your own background. If you can tell us which place in India you hail from and where did you get this passion for foreign service to serve your country in the capacity of a diplomat, does it run in the family?

CGI: I come form a place called KOTA district in Rajasthan and my Dad was an Engineer and my mother a Professor of Political Science. I actually studied engineering and I graduated from Benaras Hindu University in 1994 as an Electronics Engineer and worked as a Software Engineer for a company for some time before getting interested in Indian Foreign Service.

Raj: How come an Engineer got interested in Indian Foreign service?

CGI: As I said before, my mother was a Professor of Political Science and she actually influenced me and also I was always interested in politics and foreign relations and desire to serve in civil services.

Raj: Now that Modi Government has been returned to power with increased majority and also Adani mining project has been given the green light here, in Australia, do you think there will be a new impetus to India-Australia relations?

CGI: The multifaceted relationship between Australia and India is already very strong and growing. There are already 30 bilateral agreements in place in various fields of co-operation which are expected to grow in the coming years.

Raj: We, the Australian Indians consider ourselves as little ambassadors of India ready to be involved in furthering the cultural, sporting and commercial ties between the two countries. Therefore what role do you think we, the Australian Indians can play in furthering the relations between Australia and India?

CGI: You, the resident Indian community and Indian Diaspora are the representatives of “Brand India” and you play a very big role in nurturing and growing the relations between the two countries not only in the context of people to people ties but also growing investments between the two countries.

Raj: Finally what is your message to Australian Indians living in Sydney, in particular and Australia in general?

CGI: We are very proud of the achievement of Non Resident Indians everywhere in the World including Australia and that is the reason why Indian Government organises “Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas” every year to recognise and honour the contribution of NRIs to the development of India, their country of birth as well as the country they now call home. I look forward to interacting with the vibrant Indian Community in Sydney and our Indian consulate office in Sydney is always ready to help the Indian Community in any way we can.