Ajit Doval stays on as NSA for Modi's second term, now with Cabinet rank

Ajit Kumar Doval will be India’s National Security Advisor, or NSA, for another five-year term — only this time he will get the rank of a Cabinet minister.

In his first term as the NSA, Doval had the rank of a minister of state, although his influence on the Narendra Modi government’s internal security decision making and foreign relations, particularly with its immediate neighbourhood, far exceeded that of the respective Cabinet ministers who held the portfolios of home and external affairs.

The Modi government on Monday said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, in an order dated June 2, has approved of Doval’s appointment for a five-year period with effect from May 31 and it will be co-terminus with the term of the prime minister.

That 74-year-old Doval is elevated to Cabinet rank is recognition of his key role in shaping the Modi government’s internal security and neighbourhood policy architecture in the last five years. It also brings him on par in the government’s order of precedence with S Jaishankar. The former foreign secretary is the external affairs minister in the Modi government 2.0, but had reported to Doval in the previous government on issues related to India’s ties with its neighbours, particularly with Pakistan and Nepal.

The government on Monday also announced the itinerary of Modi’s the foreign visit of his second term. Modi will visit the Maldives on June 8 and 9. After the Maldives, the PM will visit Sri Lanka on June 9. “The visits to the Maldives and Sri Lanka will demonstrate the priority India attaches to its ‘Neighbourhood-First Policy’ and the SAGAR Doctrine,” the MEA said. The SAGAR doctrine defines the contours of New Delhi’s Indian Ocean doctrine. The PM first enunciated it in 2015. The 'SAGAR' doctrine stands for ‘Security And Growth for All in the Region’.

The PM will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on June 13-14. Pakistan PM Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others, will also attend the summit. The MEA is yet to confirm if Modi and Khan would meet for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit.

Doval is a 1968-batch Indian Police Service officer who retired as Intelligence Bureau chief in 2005. He becomes the first NSA ever, after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government created the office in 1998, appointed for two consecutive terms. Doval was elevated to the minister of state rank in September 2014 after the Chinese side insisted on ministerial-level talks.

In his first tenure, Doval is credited with leading India’s response in the wake of the Uri terror attack in September 2016, particularly the subsequent ‘surgical strike’, and the Balakot air strike.

After the Pulwama terror attack in February this year. He is expected to continue to play a pivotal role in New Delhi’s approach towards the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The state is currently under President’s Rule, and slated for Assembly polls.

On Monday, Doval led other top security officials, including Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain, to brief new Home Minister Amit Shah on the country’s internal security situation.