New Delhi: It was on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s enthusiastic prodding that Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonwal looked towards Israel for a vibrant relation.
It was followed by a flurry of visits by Israeli diplomats to the Northeastern state in the last two years. And now very soon, Israel will set up an honorary consulate in Assam’s capital Guwahati.
“We have very recently signed a pact with Israel. Very soon Israel will have an honorary consulate in Assam,” CM Sonowal said during an event in the national capital on Tuesday evening.
“The PM told us Israel is the best in agriculture technology, water management systems, tourism, etc. So you speak to Israel. And that is what we did”.
Guwahati already has consulates of Bangladesh and Bhutan, with which Assam shares the international boundary, but for Israel to set up a diplomatic establishment is a significant step.
On the other hand, Israel has consulates in Mumbai and Bengaluru besides its embassy in New Delhi.
Honorary consulates are mandated to developing economic, scientific and cultural relations between two countries as well as to safeguard the interests of the sending state and its citizens.
But at the same time, the scope of functions of the honorary consulate can be enhanced depending on the situation.
Israel is also one of the world’s top countries as far as counter-insurgency operations and intelligence-gathering techniques go.
And Northeast India, surrounded by foreign nations on all sides including China, Israel’s interest in Assam is significant.
Assam is currently in a restive state due to ongoing widespread protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act that fast-tracks citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
According to the 2011 Census, Assam is also home to about 10,600,000 Muslims or 34.22 per cent of its total population—the highest in any state in India after Jammu and Kashmir that ceased to become a state since August 5, 2019.
Having a consulate in Guwahati would also enable Israel to closely look at a 10,000 strong community from among the Mizo, Kuki and Paitei tribes who live in nearby Manipur and Mizoram that claim descent from one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel.
According to oral tradition, the forefathers of these clans, called ‘Bnei Menashe’ (sons of Menashe), were exiled by the Assyrian king more than 2,700 years ago.
After roaming around in Central Asia and Southeast Asia, they finally settled down in areas in present-day Manipur and Mizoram. More than 5,000 members of these tribes have already migrated to Israel.
India and Israel share a very close relation including military, strategic and intelligence-sharing. A lot of it is closely-guarded.
India is Israel’s biggest buyer of military equipment including weapon systems while Israel is India’s second-biggest source for such equipment after Russia.
But Assam does not want diplomatic presence just limited to a couple of countries.
“We also want all ASEAN countries to set up consulates in Guwahati. Accordingly, we have requested the external affairs ministry for help and they have given us assurance of support. We want to make Guwahati the ‘gateway to Southeast Asia’,” the CM added.
