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PERPLEXITY surrounds the recent and very public acceptance of Narendra Modi by the European diplomatic community in Delhi. The developments might have even caused heartburn among a set of Modi-baiters. But should they? It is a banality of foreign relations that there are no permanent friends or foes, only permanent interests. Seen through this prism, the European initiative to humour Modi falls in place. Shall we say the smarter of the lot, the United Kingdom, saw Modi winning and just made the first move even before the 2012 Assembly campaign rolled.

In this context, I recall a meeting with American Consul General Michael Owens in 2007. I was the State correspondent with The Indian Express covering Gandhinagar then. One day, Michael Newbill, Secretary for political affairs at the American Consulate in Mumbai, called, wanting to know whether I would be able to meet his boss Owens while on a visit to Ahmedabad. Newbill happened to be an acquaintance through common friend professor Dilip Mohite, former Dean of M S University’s Arts faculty.

The meeting happened at Hotel Haveli over lunch. Both Owens and Newbill had just wrapped up a visit to Modi at his Sachivalaya office. While it is difficult to say what went in their minds, Owens looked particularly grumpy. Someone at Modi office had just slipped into his hands a booklet that compiled newspaper reports on how denial of visa had the Indian government standing solidly behind the Gujarat Chief Minister! The cover page had a picture of Manmohan Singh and a quote from PMO that denial of visa was against true spirit of relations between the two nations. Modi was using even visa denial to his advantage.

As the meeting began following exchange of niceties, the Consul General revealed his purpose. He was only interested in knowing where Modi was headed? Owens basically wanted to see through the hype. While the rest of the discussion followed the agenda, what I told Owens, little in jest, perhaps struck a chord. For the crux of it found mention in one of his cables on Modi, subsequently revealed through wikileaks. The crux was that Modi's rise in national politics was a reality only waiting to happen, and that US would only get to choose the time to engage with him, and not whether they could. Thankfully, my name did not appear in the cable, and hence on wikileaks, possibly because the meeting was through a friend in Newbill.

But coming to the joke. I told Owens that just like the United States of America, India too was evolving into a system of government where there was just one political party – the corporate sector – with two wings. While in the USA it was the Republicans and Democrats, in India the role was with the BJP and Congress – the NDA and UPA being mere alliances of convenience with no permanent face.

But that is exactly what seems to be happening. A fed up corporate India is betting on the two individuals: Modi (on the NDA side) and P Chidambaram (on the UPA side). And that has led to the decision of the Ambassadors in Delhi, with their ear to the ground, to cultivate the two. Which ever way the electorate turns in 2014 - whether its NDA-II or UPA-III - the diplomats would have their finger in the pie.